La Frontera is more afraid of ruin, than of the volcano of El Hierro

"We have made a prison." Servilius Lopez is a resident of La Frontera, the economic capital of El Hierro. And the beautiful prison to which he refers is the area of the Gulf, the flattest of the island, where production is concentrated pineapple, banana and other fruits and vegetables. For them, this is the drama of the region, and the announcement yesterday that it had appeared more likely an undersea volcano off the coast.

In the 2 Din Don bar revolves the social gathering on the economic impact of the measure. But there is no need for much explanation. After nearly an hour to travel 40 kilometers from Valverde, a foggy mountain road, leaving visibility less than 20 meters in some sections, one understands the difficulties which it refers. And when last Saturday the same journey through Los Roquille tunnel, the road speed remained at 15 km and it took less than one quarter of an hour, carefully respecting the speed limits.

"If there is danger of detachment in the tunnel, there is more on the road to the summit," says Pucho Padron, who owns the bar that has become the center of impromptu meeting by the residents. "Look at the last tremors. There were landslides on the road. In the tunnel, not one. It has always been like that, especially when it rains, like today," he explains.

The closure of the highway is causing an injury that no one has yet quantified: "It's more fuel, more time, and more stress on the road," says Padrón. Residents are also distrustful that they can not use the tunnel, unless by use of the security and emergency vehicles, as confirmed by the spokesman for the City of La Frontera. "Is that being put in danger?" Asks Register.

The region feels further marginalized in the allocation of grants announced by the Canarian Government, who see that they are centered in La Restinga in the south of the island. "Here also are evacuees," Lopez complains, referring to the fifty people who take a week away from their homes by the danger that there desrrumbes by earthquakes, which in this area is where they have been larger (size 4, 6 in the morning of Friday, with possibility to be more, which was admitted by the director of the National Geographic Institute in the Canaries, José María Blanco).

After four months and more than 11,400 earthquake tremors, residents are increasingly less concerned. A proof is that housing has not been, as yet, damaged. That reassures the one hand, but on the other raises the suspicions of the people on precautionary measures dictated. Blanco clarified that the type of movement and acceleration far from the 0.04 G (four hundredths of Earth's gravity) that establishes the seismic safety plan Canarias makes housing and infrastructure have endured so far without problem.

"I prefer three minutes of uncertainty in the tunnel 40 on the road," says Lopez. In fact, an architect consulted by the country indicate that the only risk is in the tunnel is falling "some grit" of the material used to seal the concrete structures that make up the duct.

Padrón, makeshift community leader, argues that there is direct support to businesses of La Frontera. He points out exemptions in the payment of local taxes and Social Security payments. "It is better to join the State than to have to make contributions," he says. It has also proposed that flights and boat trips to El Hierro are funded to allow what it calls "solidarity trips" of people willing to help visit the island for use of restaurants and shopping . "It might cost more than the ticket from Tenerife to El Hierro than the Santa Cruz peninsula," he says.

Although using different language, his complaints match those of the mayor of La Frontera, David Cabrera, who believes that the aid package announced by the Government canary is too focused on relief to populations south of the island and has neglected others. .