Measuring only 27 x 13 miles (17 x 8 km), the eruption of the Soufrière Hills volcano forced the people of Montserrat to abandon the capital city of Plymouth and relocate to the northern end of the island. The volcano became active in 1995 and many of the original population of 10,500 were evacuated from the flanks of the volcano, not just to avoid the immediate danger from pyroclastic flows but also to escape dangerous mudflows called lahars: when heavy rain mixes with the ash from previous eruptions the resulting mudflows can be torrential, burying houses and setting like concrete.

By 1997, Bramble airport on the east of the island was also forced to close, and the following year the population fell to just 3000 with many of the residents emigrating to the UK and the US. Since then Montserrat has rebuilt its infrastructure in the north of the island, constructing a new airport and building new housing and by 2006 the population had recovered to around 9,500 although the southern half of the island is now designated as an exclusion zone, off limits to the general public.