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Military Emergency Unit idiosyncratic wide achromatic ash from volcano arsenic it continues to erupt lava down a religion connected the Canary land of La Palma, Spain connected Wednesday Oct. 13, 2021. A caller lava watercourse from an erupting volcano threatened to engulf different vicinity connected its mode toward the Atlantic Ocean. Island authorities person ordered the evacuation of astir 800 radical from a conception of the coastal municipality connected Tuesday aft the lava took a caller people and enactment their homes successful its probable way of destruction. (AP Photo/Saul Santos)

MADRID – A 4.5-magnitude earthquake shook La Palma successful Spain's Canary Islands successful what was the strongest recorded temblor since volcanic eruptions began 26 days ago, authorities said Thursday.

The quake was 1 of astir 60 recorded overnight, Spain’s National Geographic Institute said, arsenic the Cumbre Vieja volcano continued to spew fiery rivers of lava that are destroying everything successful their way and dumping molten stone into the Atlantic Ocean.

The lava has partially oregon wholly destroyed much than 1,600 buildings, astir fractional of them houses, officials said, though punctual evacuations person truthful acold prevented immoderate deaths. Around 7,000 radical person had to wantonness their homes, 300 of them Thursday.

“This is decidedly the astir superior eruption successful Europe of the past 100 years,” Canary Islands President Ángel Víctor Torres said.

“The lone bully quality is that...so far, cipher has been hurt,” helium said.

The travel from 3 rivers of molten stone broadened to astir 1.8 kilometers (just implicit a mile), the La Palma authorities said, but their beforehand has slowed to a crawl.

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Hard, achromatic lava present covers 674 hectares (1,665 acres) connected the occidental broadside of the island, authorities said, though astir of la Palma is unaffected.

Authorities advised locals against traveling by car due to the fact that volcanic ash was ankle-deep successful immoderate places. The volcano's plume was 2,600 meters (about 8,500 feet) precocious arsenic of Thursday.

La Palma is portion of Spain’s Canary Islands, an Atlantic Ocean archipelago disconnected northwest Africa whose system depends connected tourism and the cultivation of the Canary plantain.

Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.