The voluntary evacuation of the volcano-stricken Caribbean island of Montserrat got under way last night. But the vast majority of the remaining 4,000 islanders decided to remain until Britain detailed its financial assistance package. As frustration grew among the islanders at the lack of information from Britain, the Liberal Democrats demanded immediate clarification of the aid package, condemning the government for "dragging its feet" over the humanitarian crisis.
Islanders were massed on the undeveloped northern part of the British colony, many in makeshift shelters or sleeping in their cars. Much of the rest of the island has already been made unhabitable by the Soufriere volcano, spitting fire and ash.
Many residents are torn between offers of shelter by Britain or neighbouring islands and staying on, thus risking a cataclysmic eruption, which scientists said at the weekend was possible.
The "voluntary evacuation" plan was prompted by a recent increase in volcanic activity which has led scientists monitoring it to forecast that if a cataclysmic event should occur, the entire island would be unsafe. But residents are angry at the confused messages emanating from the authorities.
"We want to know what is happening," Mr Julian Romeo, an upset hardware store-owner told a regional radio station. "My friends from all over the United Kingdom and everywhere are calling and saying that Montserrat is being evacuated, and so far Montserratians know absolutely nothing."
The governor of Montserrat, Mr Frank Savage, told the BBC of his growing concern for the displaced residents, but discounted the likelihood of a full-scale disaster.
The British Foreign Office said it was extremely unlikely that the volcano would destroy the island. "There is a range of things which might happen to the volcano. The worst would mean the entire destruction of all the island. The chances of that are extremely remote."
A British navy destroyer, HMS Liverpool, arrived in the area on Monday to co-ordinate the evacuation.
On Monday evening police broke up a street demonstration by a group of residents on the island, where the volcano has been erupting almost daily since August 3rd. Almost 4,000 islanders have so far settled in nearby Antigua.
The British Development Minister, Ms Clare Short, moved to calm fears yesterday. "People will be housed temporarily on Antigua and then we will provide assistance to either come to Britain or to settle on a neighbouring island or elsewhere," she said.
London has already provided £45 million in aid to the island over the past two years.
The former Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht minister Mr Michael D. Higgins said yesterday that Ireland should accept some of the people fleeing Montserrat because of the two islands' strong historic links. "They refer to themselves as the Irish island. I think that the Irish government should take the connection seriously. If people seek to come here we should give it consideration," Mr Higgins told RTE radio.
The former minister, who made a television documentary on Montserrat in 1985, said one group of Montserratians arrived from Ireland after the Cromwelian invasion in the 1650s. Many Montserratians have Irish names such as Lynch, Kirwan and Blake, Mr Higgins said.