Volcano Causes Evacuation Of Capital

The government ordered the evacuation of Plymouth, the capital, and more than half of this Caribbean island’s residents Monday after the biggest volcanic eruption in a month of tremors.

Frank Savage, governor of this British colony, ordered the evacuation of residents in the south, southwest and east in a lateafternoon radio broadcast. The order affected about 5,000 people.

Seismologist Lloyd Lynch, from the Caribbean Seismic Research Center in Trinidad, said the Soufriere Hills volcano in southeast Montserrat had registered two eruptions on Saturday and one on Sunday. Monday’s was the biggest since the long-dormant Soufriere burst to life July 18.

The eruptions have spewed ash and noxious gases but not lava, Lynch said.