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670 evacuated due to Colima’s eruptions
Officials declare emergency in five municipalities
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Falling ash from ongoing activity at the Colima Volcano has resulted in the evacuation of 670 people from communities in the states of Colima and Jalisco and a declaration of emergency in five municipalities, says National Civil Protection.
The volcano began erupting Thursday, spouting plumes of ash and incandescent material and discharging pyroclastic flows down the slopes of the mountain. On the weekend those flows were traveling as far as 10 kilometers from the crater.
Officials are saying that eruptions of this kind and intensity haven’t been seen since a major eruption in 1913, according to Associated Press. And some were reported saying that a repeat of that eruption is not out of the question.
The fall of volcanic ash affected 700,000 people at the time, but due to population growth since, the effects could be more widely felt: one estimate is that 5 million people would be affected today by ash fall.
The five municipalities affected by the declaration of emergency, which was made due to ash fall, are Colima, Comala, Coquimatlán, Cuauhtémoc and Villa de Alvarez.
The closest village to the volcano, also known as the Volcano of Fire, is La Yerbabuena, eight kilometers away, where the ash fall was reported to be five centimeters deep.
Of its population of 71 families, 54 left to take shelter in Nuevo San Antonio, but the rest remained, according to one report.
Falling ash also closed the Colima airport on Saturday but it was reported to have reopened yesterday.
Source: Milenio (sp)
