Nearly a Thousand Evacuated in Guatemala due to Fuego Volcano Eruption

Nearly a thousand people were evacuated early Monday morning following a new eruption of the Fuego Volcano in Guatemala, near the capital, the agency in charge of civil protection reported. The colossus, located about 35 km southwest of Guatemala City, increased its eruptive activity on Sunday, releasing columns of lava, ash and rocks.  “As a preventive measure, some 125 families, approximately 900 people, have begun to be evacuated” from the El Porvenir hamlet in the municipality of Alotenango,” the spokesman for the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), Juan Laureano, told reporters.  A photographer observed the arrival of buses with evacuees at the Alotenango municipal hall, which will serve as a temporary shelter.  Authorities declared an orange alert on Sunday night for “constant communication with mayors and governors” of places near the volcano “to coordinate prevention and response actions” in response to the strong eruption, said a statement from Conred. 

The government also suspended school activities in Alotenango and closed a highway that runs through the town and links the south of the country to the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala’s main tourist site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.  Laureano added that they are also monitoring the descent of pyroclastic flows – a mixture of gases, ash and blocks of rock at high temperatures that descend at high speed – that descend the slopes of the volcano, 3,763 meters high and located between the departments of Escuintla, Chimaltenango and Sacatepéquez.  The Fuego Volcano caused an avalanche of burning material on June 3, 2018, which devastated the San Miguel Los Lotes community in Escuintla and part of the highway in Alotenango, Sacatepéquez, leaving 215 dead and a similar number missing.  In Guatemala, the Santiaguito (west) and Pacaya (south) volcanoes are also active.