BOGOTA – Colombia’s Galeras Volcano erupted Wednesday, forcing authorities to order the evacuation of thousands, but residents in nearby villages and towns refused and hunkered down in homes, officials said.
Galeras, which has often spewed gas and clouds of gas into the skies in recent years, is located in Colombia’s Andes about 500 kilometers south of Bogota near the frontier with Ecuador.
It erupted ten times last year.
Authorities reported no immediate injuries or damage after the latest eruption. Around 8,000 people live in risky areas around the volcano but many often refuse to leave their homes because they are used to frequent activity at the volcano.
“People are obliged to leave, no one can sit around debating over what might occur, even if up until now nothing has happened, we have to remain alert,” Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras told local media.
Colombia’s coffee federation had no reports of damage to crops in the area, a federation spokeswoman said. Colombia is the world’s top producer of high-quality washed Arabia beans.
In previous eruptions, local residents reported large columns of smoke billowing over the volcano and towns were covered with layers of ash.
“The level of activity in the volcano shifted to red which means an imminent or current eruption,” the country’s National Geological Institute said in a statement earlier.
The last eruption was in January this year when authorities ordered an evacuation but no one was killed or injured. In 1993, a massive eruption at Galeras killed ten people just as a scientific mission was examining the crater.
© Thomson Reuters 2010
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