More than a thousand people had to leave their homes this Thursday, in southern Guatemala, after the eruption of the Fuego Volcano, the most active in all of Central America, according to Guatemalan authorities.
The eruption began on Thursday morning and caused clouds of fire – a mixture of gas, water vapor and debris at extremely high temperatures that descended the slopes at great speed – causing fears for the safety of the population residing in the region.
A total of 1,054 people, who live in five neighboring villages, were evacuated by the authorities, Oscar Cossio, director of the national agency for disaster reduction Conred, told a press conference.
Some 130,000 people live under the threat of Volcán Fuego, a stratovolcano 3,763 meters above sea level, located just 35 kilometers from Guatemala City, the country’s capital.
The Institute of Volcanology of Guatemala, through its general director, Edwin Rojas, announced on Thursday night “a decrease in volcanic activity.”
Even earlier, Conred indicated that the eruptive column, composed of gas and ash, rose to six thousand meters above sea level.
When the volcano last erupted in December 2022, Guatemala’s international airport had to be closed, as was a busy highway between the resort town of Antigua Guatemala and the south of the country. Police forces prohibited, on the afternoon of this Thursday, the passage through this same route.
On June 3, 2018, a cloud of fire produced by the volcano hit the town of San Miguel Los Lotes, killing 215 people. Two other volcanoes are active in Guatemala: Santiaguito, in the west of the country, and Pacaya, in the south.
Source: Observadora
