Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa declared a state of emergency on Saturday as the dangerous Cotopaxi Volcano rumbled to life and prompted evacuation orders in several villages threatened by landslides.
“As a precautionary measure, a total of 400 people have been evacuated,” the president said in a radio and television address just before signing the decrees.
The volcano, which is 5,897m high, is considered one of the most threatening in the region — both because of its size and because it is so close to densely populated towns.
Photo: EPA
“The situation developing at Cotopaxi is a serious threat that has led the government to take urgent special measures to confront this eruptive process,” Ecuadoren Public Safety chief Cesar Navas said.
The volcano started to stir on Friday, registering several small eruptions and shooting plumes of dust and ash 8km into the sky. By declaring a state of emergency — also called a state of exception in Ecuador — the president can direct resources and deploy military personnel to aid communities affected by the volcano’s activity.
Earlier, officials ordered what they called precautionary evacuations in villages near the volcano, warning residents of potential landslides of volcanic debris, or lahars. Residents in towns and river settlements in Cotopaxi Province, just 45km south of the capital Quito, were told to leave, Ecuadoran Risk Management Office head Pablo Morillo said.
Officials did not specify how many people could be affected by the evacuation order which affects three provinces with towns near the volcano.
In the city of Latacunga, home to about 170,000 people, sirens sounded as residents frantically fled, packing food, water and pets into cars that quickly clogged the roads.
“I was driving near the Cutuchi River and police came out with sirens, alerting us, and moving from house to house to draw people out. The sirens distressed us,” one woman told reporters, without providing her name.
Soldiers could be seen in the streets of Latacunga, along with cars carrying mattresses, motorcycles and other household items.
Authorities maintained a “yellow alert” in the region, a mid-range warning, and said it would remain as long as Cotopaxi continued to stir.
“We will maintain the same alert, but since there are still no lahar flows, the evacuation order is still only preventive,” Morillo said.
The volcano emitted a current of hot glass and rock — called pyroclastic flow — which authorities warned could trigger avalanches or lahars.
“Due to the pyroclastic flows that can generate lahars, preventative evacuations [are ordered] on the southern part” of the volcano, the Risk Management Office said on Twitter.
“At present, there have been no lahars, but they could occur,” Ecuador’s Geophysical Institute said.
Quito Mayor Mauricio Rodas said one million surgical masks would be distributed across the city of 2.3 million people to prevent the inhalation of falling dust.
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