Montserrat is one of five United Kingdom Overseas Territories in the Caribbean. Ravaged by a series of volcanic eruptions since 1995, the Montserrat economy had virtually collapsed due to the destruction of much of the country’s social and physical capital. Starting in 1995, the evacuation of population primarily to the UK, Antigua and other Caribbean Islands took place in phases as more and more districts in the south became at risk as the flows engulfed different valleys. Sixty per cent of the island’s land area has now been abandoned, while the country’s population was reported in the 2011 Population and Housing Census to be 4, 922, about fifty per cent its count before the crisis. Rebuilding the economy has been slow and difficult, challenged by many unique constraints and risks, not the least of which has been the ongoing threat of living close to an active volcano. Notwithstanding the challenges, the and the country’s progress is commendable.
