The authorities of Guatemala reported that a strong eruptive phase of the Fuego volcano in the southwest of the country ended on Tuesday, which forced the preventive evacuation of 500 people in two nearby villages due to ash rain.
“Seismic and acoustic monitoring parameters and field observations carried out (…) in the area and at the Fuego Volcano Observatory indicate that in recent hours this activity has continued to decline progressively,” he said in a bulletin. the Institute of Volcanology (Insivumeh) of Guatemala.
“These changes suggest the end of the eruptive activity of the Fuego volcano, which lasted a total of 26 hours,” he said.
#Fire volcano The evacuation of community members from the village of Morelia, Yepocapa, Chimaltenango continues; They support the Local Coordinator for Disaster Reduction in the process. pic.twitter.com/G8YxM07HEy
— CONRED (@ConredGuatemala) March 8, 2022
The first 150 people were evacuated in a “preventive” way from the Panimaché I community and, later, another 220 from the Morelia village in the municipality of San Pedro Yepocapa, on the west flank of the volcano, where ash fall was reported, Rodolfo Flores said. , spokesperson for the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred).
Images released by Conred showed the moment in which the residents, including children and the elderly, boarded buses from sugar mills in the region heading to shelters in the neighboring city of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, reported the AFP news agency.
The Fuego volcano, 3,763 meters high and located 35 km southwest of Guatemala City, yesterday increased its eruptive activity with the expulsion of ash and lava, and strong rumblings, the Institute of Volcanology (Insivumeh) said in a bulletin.
“This eruption maintains a high energy level and can increase sharply again,” said Insivumeh in the updated report on the strombolian activity of the volcano that alternates lava eruptions and explosive projections.
The entity added that, due to the eruption, pyroclastic flows – a mixture of gases, ash and rock blocks that descend at high speeds and temperatures – descended through two ravines of the volcano, although the Conred indicated that “so far they do not represent danger to no community.
#Fire volcano Evacuation process in Morelia village, Yepocapa, Chimaltenango; Approximately 220 people will be transferred by buses from the Ingenio Pantaleón to the fairgrounds of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, Escuintla. pic.twitter.com/9UoqqOuwm5
— CONRED (@ConredGuatemala) March 8, 2022
Authorities also reported ash rain in the communities of Panimaché II, El Rodeo, Las Palmas, El Porvenir, San Andrés Osuna, La Rochela, and the urban area of San Pedro Yepocapa.
Along with that of Fuego, the volcanoes Santiaguito, in the west, and Pacaya, in the south of the country, are also active in Guatemala.
An eruption of the Fuego volcano, on June 3, 2018, caused an avalanche that devastated the San Miguel Los Lotes community in the southern municipality of Escuintla and part of a highway in the neighboring town of Alotenango, leaving 215 dead and a similar number. of disappeared.
