Hundreds of people living on the slopes of Guatemala’s Fuego volcano evacuated on Tuesday after a powerful eruption sent lava and columns of ash into the air, UNN writes, citing AFP.
Details
Emergency services declared a red alert, the highest level, after Central America’s most active volcano erupted on Monday morning, with conditions worsening by nightfall.
Rivers of lava flowed down the 3,763-meter-high volcano, located less than 100 kilometers from Guatemala City, while ash rose approximately six kilometers into the red sky.
"It had been active since early morning. That night, an alert was issued that we needed to evacuate," local resident Alejandro García, 68, told AFP.
Local residents left their homes voluntarily out of fear, García said, describing horrific scenes of lava flowing down the mountainside.
Firefighters said they had transported at least 500 residents of the villages of El Porvenir and Las Lajitas to the eastern municipality of San Juan Alotenango.
The evacuees are being housed in a community center where temporary beds have been set up, while the number of people evacuated to other nearby towns remains unknown.
Escuintla in the south sheltered dozens more families, including children, local authorities said.
The red alert covers the departments of Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango and Escuintla, with a combined population of 1.6 million.
Emergency services director Claudine Ogaldes urged at-risk families to voluntarily go to shelters.
"In these places, you will find care, support and safe conditions while volcanic activity continues," she wrote on X.
The country’s volcanology institute warned of hot flows of volcanic debris moving down Fuego’s slopes, with the greatest risk in communities on the western and southern slopes.
According to the institute, by Tuesday morning Fuego had been erupting for 23 consecutive hours, although its intensity was decreasing somewhat.
"We are already used to the volcano’s constant activity, but this time it was truly too much," 50-year-old resident Sonia Vasquez told AFP.
So far, there has been no impact on the capital’s international airport.
The Education Ministry suspended in-person classes in communities in two municipalities near the volcano.
Police closed and later reopened a nearby road leading to the colonial city of Antigua, a tourist destination and UNESCO World Heritage site.
Additional information
Guatemala lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and frequently experiences seismic and volcanic activity.
Several such mass evacuations have taken place in recent years because of Fuego’s eruptions. Last year, authorities evacuated more than 500 people after Fuego spewed gas and ash, and residents moved to shelters from settlements near the crater. Another eruption in 2023 forced around 1,200 people to evacuate. In 2018, 215 people were killed and approximately the same number went missing when rivers of lava surged down Fuego’s slopes and destroyed a village.