The Director of the National Emergency Management Organization NEMO Ms Michelle Forbes during a call to WEFM’s Wake Up Morning Show warned that those who hike up La Soufriere do so at their own risk. She said that NEMO is collaborating with the National Parks, Rivers and Beaches Authority to get the trail back to what it once was.
“We would have had some discussions with National Parks because they are the ones who have actually been looking at the trail and trying to get back to some sort of normalcy that persons can access” she said.
Miss Forbes especially appealed to those that are experienced hikers not to take the risk of hiking up the trail at this time.
“If you are not an avid hiker, I would say an extreme hiker, that actually knows how to manoeuvre those type of trails, you really shouldn’t be going up there because you can actually slip off easily, you have a lot of gullies, and remember the entire top of the volcano is bare, because all the vegetation has been burnt. It will take some time before the vegetation grows back—the top of the volcano will still be a bit bare. So, when persons are going up they are basically doing that at their own risk.” She said.
NEMO’s Director says that authorities are looking at having work done on the trail to improve its stability.
In the interview, Ms Forbes said that she has seen pictures of people hiking up the volcano and warned that this does not mean that it is not a dangerous act, but quite the opposite.
