Bermuda has pledged $50,000 in aid to St Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean, where a volcano continues to erupt on the main island, forcing about 20,000 to evacuate.

The La Soufrière volcano, to the north of St Vincent, started to erupt last Friday after decades of quiet.

It has cast a pall of ash over the island and as far as Barbados.

David Burt, the Premier, joined an emergency meeting today of Caricom Heads of Government to discuss the crisis, along with Walter Roban, the Deputy Premier.

Mr Burt said they heard how thousands were displaced and the island’s landscape “radically” altered.

He added: “There is a concerted effort to ensure the people of St Vincent and the Grenadines have access to the basic necessities and can, even now, start to lay the groundwork for rebuilding their nation.”

Mr Roban said videos were “breathtaking” in showing the scale of the eruption.

He said the Bermuda Government had been in contact with Caricom and the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency since the eruptions began.

Mr Roban said the $50,000 in aid would come from budgeted Cabinet Office Overseas Hurricane Relief allocation.

“The human impact of this event is such that we have a moral imperative to play our part in the regional and international effort to help,” he said.

“I know St Vincent well and the people are resilient and proud of their country.

“The assistance from Bermuda will be welcomed and it is a sobering reminder for us that even in the midst of all that we must manage with Covid-19, that country now adds an active volcano to complicate its own battle against the global pandemic.”

“We continue to keep them in our thoughts and extend prayers for their continued safety.”