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On 19 September 2021, the Cumbre Vieja volcano (renamed Tajogaite) erupted on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands). One month after the eruption, a multidisciplinary team conducted an in situ geomorphological, geographical and socio-environmental diagnosis to complement the remote monitoring of the crisis management and impacts of the eruption. The impacts of the lava flows and the ash fallout led to the evacuation of more than 7,000 people, had a heavy and lasting impact on the agricultural and touristic sectors, and imposed a territorial reorganisation. The analysis of the crisis management reveals that the eruption surprised by its location and duration; the island was prepared for an eruptive crisis but not for a long, multiform and multiphase territorial crisis.

This paper offers a reflection on the constraints imposed by the focus of the management of the pandemic at the global level and of the epidemic at the level of the territories on the preparation and anticipation of new threats, such as natural hazards.

The purpose of this paper aims to study the volcanic areas as geographical objects. Geographical analyses help to understand at different scales the levels of impacts induced by volcanic eruptions. Impacts of such events trigger spatial changes across the volcano itself, and can have consequences at regional or even global level in case of outbreaks of greater magnitude. The various examples discussed here focus on hazards, vulnerability and resilience of people living in those volcanic-hazard prone areas.