The aftermath of the disaster, photographed in 1999.
Human settlement on the Caribbean island and British Overseas Territory of Montserrat was changed forever on the 25th of June, 1997. Following a couple of years of volcanic activity, on this day a series of pyroclastic flows and lahars (mudslides or debris flows) devastated the capital, Plymouth.
Residents of Plymouth and other settlements had been evacuated some time earlier, but had moved back when the disaster occurred. Nineteen people died before residents were evacuated again – this time permanently.
Today Plymouth is a ghost town. Following the disaster more than two-thirds of the island’s population left. Most did not return.
In Times Gone By... 
