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Ecuador 2006
Ecuador volcano spews rocks, villages evacuated
July 14, 2006
QUITO, Ecuador (Reuters) - Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano spewed ash, gases and molten rocks on Friday, forcing authorities to evacuate four nearby villages after the crater registered its most volatile activity since a 1999 eruption.
Tungurahua, located about 81 miles south of Quito, has been increasingly active since May when it shot out large clouds of hot gas and prompted officials to renew a limited state of emergency in nearby towns.
Civil defense authorities ordered evacuations in four small villages in the areas surrounding the volcano, whose name means "throat of fire" in local indigenous Quichua language.
It is one of the eight active volcanoes in Ecuador.
"The volcano has been active for some time, but this is an eruption that goes beyond the sustained and moderate... and has become an eruption of much more energy," said Hugo Yepez, director of a local geophysics institute.
Local television stations showed images of molten rocks blasting from the crater while radio reported ash raining down on the Andean provinces of Tungurahua and Chimborazo.
Authorities have not yet declared a red alert, which would trigger a forced evacuation of all neighboring areas, one official said.
The volcano's crater is little over a mile south of the tourist town of Banos whose 17,000 residents were forced to evacuate in 1999 after loud explosions and huge plumes of ash billowed out of the volcano.
Emergency centers were set up in Banos to receive any residents fleeing from nearby villages.
--boston.com
more info. at
*http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/volcano-tours/index.php?id=482
*http://www.buffalo.edu/news/fast-execute.cgi/article-page.html?article=58900009
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