OVIEDO, Spain

Friday marks two months since the volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma began erupting and record seismic activity suggests that it will not end anytime soon.

Early on Friday, the strongest earthquake since the volcano began yet spewing lava and ash shook La Palma and was felt even on the other nearby Canary Islands. According to Spain's National Geographic Institute, it had a magnitude of 5.1.

Already, this has become the longest volcanic eruption that the island has seen since 1712 and has caused more damage than any other eruption in living memory.

Around 7,000 of the island's 83,000 inhabitants have had to evacuate their homes and are now staying with loved ones or in shelters.

Many of them have lost their homes and neighborhoods forever in the molten rock, with the houses of the luckier ones blanketed in thick layers of grey ash that must be removed from the roofs to stop them from collapsing.

At least 2,623 buildings have been destroyed and the lava has swallowed more than 1,000 hectares (2,471 acres) of land, according to data from the Copernicus satellite.

Buried under the hills of smoldering black lava are banana plantations, highways, homes, schools, churches, hotels, and farmland.

On Friday, the Canary Islands government pegged the damages so far at €906 million ($1.025 billion).

The volcano is also thought to be responsible for the death of a 72-year-old man, who died while cleaning the ashes off his house, though an autopsy is underway to confirm what happened. A source from the Volcano Prevention Plan (Pevolca) told the Spanish daily El Pais that he may have suffocated after being "buried by the ash on a rooftop."

Amid all the tragedy, the eruption has also given way to heroic acts. One includes a group of unnamed locals who rescued several dogs surrounded by lava.

While authorities were debating how to rescue the dogs with drones, the civilians snuck into the dangerous area, took the dogs, and left behind a reassuring sign that said "Strength for La Palma. The dogs are OK," signed: "the A-Team."

The island itself has also grown in size due to the eruption. The lava hardening as it hits the sea has created around 41 hectares (76 football fields) of new land, although it remains far too hot to be usable anytime soon.

On Friday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is visiting La Palma for the seventh time since the eruption began.