 |  | | | | | Farmland
It is estimated that at least 65 people entered the Exclusion Zone during the morning of 25 June 1997. Many of these people checked the radio updates in the morning before they entered. Some farmers regularly returned to the Exclusion Zone to care for animals or tend to crops. |  | |  | | Trees destroyed | | Farmland with Pyroclastic flow |  |
| | The farmers were producing crops to feed evacuees and believed that they were helping their country in crisis. Most land suitable for farming was in the south of the island, close to the volcano. Before the eruption Montserrat was a self sufficient island but once the Exclusion Zones had been set up the islanders relied on food aid. According to reports there was not enough food to go round. Therefore locals put pressure on officials to allow access for farming. Despite roadblocks, access to the Exclusion Zone was easy for those who knew paths and tracks through the bush. |
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