President Gustavo Petro asked, this Wednesday, April 5, to speed up “preventive evacuation of 2,500 families“which are in areas surrounding the snow-capped volcano of Ruiz, that the Orange alert, indicative that there is a probability that in days or weeks it will erupt.
(See: Nevado del Ruiz: the SGC talks about the possibilities of eruption).
“We have asked the Departmental Risk Councils to speed up the preventive evacuation of 2,500 families who are at high risk due to the contingency of Nevado del Ruiz“Said Petro in a message on his Twitter account.
Petro already informed, last weekend, that there was “The preventive evacuation of the upper part of the snow-capped mountain has begun“, to which the director in charge of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Luis Fernando Velasco, He added in later days that these are communities that are difficult to contact in case the situation worsens.
If the National Government receives information “complicated situation of the volcano, will give instructions for people to evacuateVelasco told local media.
(See: Nevado del Ruiz volcano: seismic events keep alert).
This volcano, located in the Los Nevados National Park between the departments of Caldas and Tolima, had a big rash on November 13, 1985, that caused the biggest natural catastrophe in the country.
The eruption of that volcano and the melting of its glaciers caused an avalanche that devastated the town of Armero, in the department of Tolima, where more than 23,000 of its 25,000 inhabitants died.
(See: How is the activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano).
Nevado del Ruiz volcano.
COLOMBIAN GEOLOGICAL SERVICE
In his latest statement, the Colombian Geological Service (SGC) assured that the volcano continues “the seismicity record of rock fracturing inside the volcanic edifice” and that on Tuesday, April 4, there were 5,200 seismic events.
“During the first hours of this April 5, more than 2,600 earthquakes have been registered“, details the report, which also highlights that there have been seven earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 2.0 ML (local magnitude) “whose maximum magnitude reached was 3.9 ML“, recorded at 2:16 am this Wednesday.
According to the agency, 3.9ML is “the highest magnitude for this seismic source since instrumental monitoring was carried out, starting in 1985, in that sector of the volcano“.
(See: ICT Ministry activates emergency plan for Nevado del Ruiz activity).
The information adds that “Seismic activity related to the movement of fluids inside the volcanic conduits continues to be recorded, associated with confirmed ash emissions“.
EFE
