October 23, 2022, 23:06 PM
October 23, 2022, 23:06 PM
Ecuador declared a “precautionary” yellow alert before the activity of the Cotopaxi volcano, which awoke in 2015 and that it has registered earthquakes and emitted ash in the last two days, the National Risk Management Service (SNGRE) reported on Sunday.
The entity stated in a statement that it “declared a state of Yellow Alert due to volcanic activity for the zone of influence” of Cotopaxi, at 5,897 meters of altitude.
In the zone of influence of the massif of perpetual snow more than 300,000 people live and there are strategic facilities such as oil pipelines and large agricultural and livestock areas. The effects of a major eruption could even affect Quito, some 45 kilometers away.
The SNGRE indicated that the decision to order the yellow alert “is taken under the precautionary principle” and “implies that all the plans for contingency at the cantonal, provincial and national level in case the activity increases”.
This alert, which is activated in the face of a threat, is prior to the orange (for an imminent event) and the red (event in progress), according to the plans of the relief agency.
An earthquake registered on Friday in Cotopaxi It was the largest after the 2015 eruption, according to the Quito Geophysical Institute.
It also emitted a column of gas and water vapor that reached 500 meters above the crater and another of ash that exceeded 2,300 meters.
The volcanic dust fell slightly in a refuge located in Cotopaxi at almost 4,900 meters of altitude. Mountaineers who evacuated that site reported the smell of sulfur.
“At the moment, the level of seismic activity of the Cotopaxi volcano has decreased and remains at low levels,” said the relief agency.
The institute specified that the summit of the volcano appeared on sunday with a layer of dark gray ashresult of the emissions of the previous days.
He confirmed that “since yesterday morning until now, the level of seismicity in Cotopaxi has dropped.”
Likewise, he reported on the descent of “small” mudflows caused by the alteration of the ice cap by the ash mantle on top.
The Ministry of the Environment prohibited the entry of tourists for this weekend to the protected area that surrounds it, of some 33,000 hectares.
In Ecuador The volcanoes Tungurahua (since 1999), Sangay and Reventador are also in an eruptive process.
