Ecuador residents bracing for major volcanic eruption

[Judi Lynn]

Thursday, January 10, 2008
Ecuador residents bracing for major volcanic eruption

QUITO, Ecuador — Ecuador’s Tungurahua volcano is ready for a major eruption, a volcanologist said yesterday. Authorities last week evacuated 10 villages from its western slopes as a precaution.

Patricia Mothes, a U.S. expert on volcanoes, said that the 16,575-foot volcano, 80 miles southeast of Quito, “is preparing to generate, in days or weeks, a great eruption.” She said that could mean pyroclastic flows — volcanic materials “that descend at high speeds and burn everything in their way.”

Tungurahua, which has been active since 1999, has been freeing a high level of energy since Dec. 22, Mothes said.

http://www.journalnow.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSJ%2FMGArticle%2FWSJ_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354153405&path=!nationworld&s=1037645509161





Photo from 14 June 2006.





Volcano prompts evacuations in Ecuador
Print ViewMobile VersionPosted: 10 January, 2008

Ecuador (MNN) ― Activity in Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano, 90 miles south of Quito, has forced the evacuation of at least 1,000 villagers.

Authorities are asking the government to resettle evacuated families in other areas so they don't have to return to the endangered zones.

Tungurahua's last eruption in 2006 killed five people, destroyed farmland and left hundreds of farm animals dead.

The volcano's name is translated "throat of fire" in the Quichua language. It has been erupting off and on since 1999.

More:
http://www.mnnonline.org/article/10773

[fed-up]

1. awesome pics! nt