Subj:	Fwd: Undersea Volcano Rattles Caribbean - Grenada area
Date:	12/7/01 6:31:33 AM Pacific Standard Time

Undersea Volcano Rattles Caribbean


Updated: Thu, Dec 06 3:59 PM EST


ST. AUGUSTINE, Trinidad (Reuters) - Seismologists warned residents of
the southeast Caribbean on Thursday to stay alert for a possible
eruption of an undersea volcano known as "Kick 'em Jenny," which has
caused a series of small earthquakes in the region recently.

The volcano, located about 90 miles north of Grenada in the southern
Grenadines, was generating occasional small earthquakes on Thursday
morning, the Seismic Research Unit of the University of the West
Indies said.

"The premonitory earthquake swarms were more severe than any
previously observed at Kick 'em Jenny but the size of the
eruption .... has been very small so far," it said.

However, alerts remained in effect as researchers were not satisfied
that eruptive activity had stopped.

The summit of Kick 'em Jenny is believed to be about 480 feet below
the sea's surface. If it erupts, it can throw debris into the air,
but the greater danger would be if it touches off a "tsunami" or huge
wave.

The volcano's first-known eruption was in 1939, which lasted about 24
hours. Watched by spectators on north Grenada, it threw up a column
of lava and water 900 feet above sea level and triggered tsunami
waves. No one was killed. Since then, there have been at least 10
more smaller eruptions, the last in 1990.

The Seismic Research Unit warned pleasure boats that had been spotted
sightseeing near Kick' em Jenny to stay away.

"People on these craft should be aware that they could be killed at
any moment and that they are almost certainly completely uninsured,"
it said.