La Palma marks five years since Tajogaite eruption with reconstruction at 60%

Destruction and five-year reconstruction progress

Five years after the Tajogaite volcano erupted on La Palma on 19 September 2021, the overall reconstruction of the devastated area stands at approximately 60%, according to the local victims' association. The 85-day eruption covered 1,219 hectares with lava, reached the Atlantic ocean, and destroyed 2,988 buildings, including between 1,345 and 1,600 homes. Around 7,000 residents evacuated from the Aridane Valley as lava flows severed more than 70 kilometres of roads and buried 370 hectares of farmland, mainly banana plantations, vineyards, and avocado orchards. Total direct damages from the natural disaster reached an estimated 1,000 million euros. Local victims report that administrative bureaucracy and rising building costs continue to slow down recovery efforts across the island.

Displaced families and provisional housing

Hundreds of displaced residents continue to inhabit temporary accommodations five years after losing their properties. In Los Llanos de Aridane, 39 of the original 85 modular shipping containers remain occupied by families who cannot afford surging rental prices or the costs of rebuilding. Wooden modular homes in El Paso house additional displaced families, while toxic volcanic gas concentrations still prevent residents of Puerto Naos and La Bombilla from returning to their original properties. Juan Fernando Pérez Martín, president of the Plataforma de Afectados por la Erupción del Volcán Cumbre Vieja 2021, described the toll of prolonged displacement in temporary quarters.

“The containers are a cemetery. You enter and start seeing them empty, in silence. They were provisional, for one year, just like the wooden houses, and we have already had five.”

Installed containers85

Occupied containers in September 202639

Installed containers

85 units

Occupied containers in September 2026

39 units

Data from the article text

Local resident Marcelino expressed the enduring strain experienced by affected communities that remain without permanent housing.

“The volcano did not end on 13 December 2021. The volcano has not ended.”

Infrastructure rebuilding over cooling lava

Rebuilding key transit corridors across the volcanic terrain involves technical challenges because the underlying lava remains hot and structurally irregular. In May 2023, authorities opened the new La Costa road across solidified lava flows to restore transport between Tazacorte and Puerto Naos. In January 2026, work began on a 24.1 million euro project to reconstruct a 2.3-kilometre section of the LP-2 highway connecting Las Manchas and Tajuya, with completion scheduled for the first four months of 2027. Engineering teams use infrared thermal cameras mounted on drones to map subterranean heat sources, locate volcanic tubes, and monitor gas emissions beneath the roadbed. Cabildo President Sergio Rodríguez reported that construction continues at a steady pace to reconnect municipalities including El Paso, Los Llanos de Aridane, and Fuencaliente.

Financial support and economic shifts

Financing the recovery remains a point of friction between regional and national authorities. The Canary Islands government provides 50 million euros annually and released 100 million euros from its regional surplus through the Decreto Canarias, whereas the central government in Madrid has delivered only its 2023 payment out of a pledged 100 million euros per year. Amid the physical devastation, volcano tourism emerged as an economic driver in the Aridane Valley after the municipality of El Paso reopened guided trails to the craters in mid-2022. Over 190,000 people have visited the trail, and more than 50% of tourists who visited La Palma in 2024 took part in volcano tours. Spanish Minister of Territorial Policy Ángel Víctor Torres and Canary Islands President Fernando Clavijo both reiterated their administrative commitments on Saturday to pursue recovery for the island.