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Guatemala City (AFP) – Guatemalan authorities have triggered a red alert and evacuated about 4,000 people Monday after the Fuego volcano burst for the fifth time this year.
Memories of the eruption of the volcano in June are still painful and have swept villages, making nearly 200 dead and 235 missing.
The director of the Institute of Volcanology, Pablo Oliva, said that the level of activity of the volcano had declined considerably late Monday, but that it was too early to tell the residents to return home.
A spokesman for the Guatemalan disaster management agency, CONRED, said earlier that they have decided to evacuate the municipality of Escuintla and two other districts. As a precaution, some 4,000 people were taken to temporary shelters.
The spokesman, David de Leon, said the eruption had become more and more violent after its start Sunday morning, raising fears for the safety of the thousands of people living on the slopes of the high mountains (3 763 meters).
A column of ash rose to about 1,000 meters above the crater and areas west of the volcano, 35 kilometers from Guatemala City, were under a dam of gaseous ash and rocks ardentes, said CONRED.
A previous eruption from October 12th to 13th was characterized by ever stronger arrows and lava flows. On this occasion, 62 people were evacuated from their homes as a precaution and a highway around the mountain was closed.
A large number of evacuees on Monday said they feared a repeat of the deadly June eruption.
"We were scared and that was the reason we evacuated," said Miriam Garcia, from El Rodeo village, largely spared from the deadly eruption.
"You have to go out as soon as possible because when this (volcanic material) gets closer, you do not have time to leave, even if you run, because it comes very quickly," said Oscar Juarez of 39, El Rodeo.
The activity in the other two volcanoes of Guatemala, Pacaya and Santiaguito, has increased in recent months, but they have not yet entered the eruption phase.
