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Galeras Volcano erupts near Pasto, Colombia - 8000 evacuated
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by Amy Judd | February 14, 2009 at 06:24 pm
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The Galeras volcano has erupted near the town of Pasto in Colombia. The alert level has been set to red.
A large amout of ash is currently falling on the city of Pasto.
8,000 people have begun evacuating the area, when the volcano began erupting at 7:10pm. The Civil Defense and Red Cross are helping with the evacuations as many people live on the volcano slopes. The volcano is not in a heavily populated area however.
Authorities have raised the alert level to "red" after an "explosive eruption" at the Galeras Volcano in Colombia, according to local TV.
Mayor Eduardo Alvarado said:
an abundant ashfall on urban Pasto and on some rural areas,"
There have been no reports of injuries or fatalities at this time.
Two water treatment plants have been shut down however just in case.
What does 'Red Alert' mean?
A red alert is the highest level of alert that can be issued in any situation when a threat of danger is immanent.
The Galeras Volcano is the most active volcano in Colombia and is has been active for over a million years now.
The volcano previously erupted on January 17, 2008 causing only partial damage.
Two major caldera-forming eruptions have occurred, the first about 560,000 years ago in an eruption which expelled about 15 cubic kilometres of material, and the second some time between 40,000 and 150,000 years ago, in a smaller but still sizable eruption of 2km³ of material. Subsequently, part of the caldera wall has collapsed, probably due to instabilities caused by hydrothermal activity, and later eruptions have built up a smaller cone inside the now horseshoe-shaped caldera.
In light of its violent eruptive history and proximity to the 450,000 people of Pasto, Galeras was designated a Decade Volcano in 1991, identifying it as a target for detailed study as part of the United Nations' International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.
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at 20:55 on February 14th, 2009
Nariño Government Secretary Fabio Trujillo reported that in Pasto, an explosion rang out at the time of the eruption, causing windows to vibrate, but no damage was reported. Pasto is a city of 300,000, located some 20 kilometres from the volcano's crater.
The Red Cross and the Nariño Provincial Government put their emergency plan into action. Although there was no fumarole, openings in the earth that emit smoke and steam located near volcanoes, the windshields of motorists traveling in the city were ash covered.
Diego Gómez of the Seismological Observatory said that they were monitoring further activity and new developments could occur in the coming hours.
David Pantoja, a taxi driver in Gualcaloma, an upper district of Pasto, said that there were ashes as far as the eye could see.
At 7:10 pm, authorities began an evacuation, which is at least the fourth evacuation in the last year.
At 1:00 am Sunday, local authorities will be meeting to assess whether other measures are to be taken before declaring an emergency.
At 4,270 metres above sea level, the Galeras volcano has been continually active since 1988.
The last eruption took place in January 2008, but there were no casualties. In 1993, El Galeras erupted causing nine fatalities.
Source: www.eltiempo.com
at 21:01 on February 14th, 2009
Thanks for the English translation here.
at 21:41 on February 14th, 2009
Check out our Volcano channel
at 01:34 on February 15th, 2009
Nature's Powers have the greatest of beauty with in them and yet also the greatest of danger.