Residents evacuate as volcano spews ashes in Ecuador

[GlennO]

Residents evacuate as volcano spews ashes in Ecuador
By the CNN Wire Staff
April 26, 2011 10:00 p.m. EDT

Ashes from Tungurahua, seen here in a 2010 photo, rose more than four miles into the air Tuesday.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Ash rises more than 7 kilometers in the air above the volcano
Ecuador's geophysics institute says damage to farms and health are evident
The volcano has erupted periodically since 1999
Tungurahua means "throat of fire" in the native Quechua language

(CNN) -- Authorities in Ecuador closed schools and evacuated residents in areas near a volcano Tuesday after ashes spewing from its crater fell on homes and farms, state media reported.

Ashes from Tungurahua -- which means "throat of fire" in the native Quechua language -- rose more than 7 kilometers (4 miles) into the air Tuesday, the government news agency said.

Authorities issued an alert as monitors detected six eruptions, ranging from moderate to large, and a significant ash cloud Tuesday, state media said.

"According to our observations, damages to crops, pastures and small effects to the health of people are already evident," the country's geophysics institute said. Officials first detected increased activity in the volcano April 20, with monitors observing regular small eruptions of ash and gas.

The glacier-capped, 16,478-foot volcano has erupted periodically since 1999, when increased activity led to the temporary evacuation of the city of Banos at the foot of the volcano.

Tungurahua erupted in December, sending ash and lava spewing nearly a mile into the sky.
Major eruptions also occurred in August 2006 and February 2008, according to the government's emergency management agency.

Before the recent activity, the last major eruption was between 1916 and 1918. Relatively minor activity continued until 1925, the Smithsonian Institution said on its volcano website.
The volcano is 140 kilometers (86 miles) south of Quito, Ecuador's capital.

LINK:Residents evacuate as volcano spews ashes in Ecuador - CNN.com

[GlennO]

Activity on the Pacific side of the of the Ring of Fire.

[SonSeeker]

Activity on the Pacific side of the of the Ring of Fire.

Aren't all sides of the Ring of Fire on the Pacific side??

[Keeplookinup]

Aren't all sides of the Ring of Fire on the Pacific side??

I am going to assume Glenn meant the eastern side of the ring of fire. Yes? And yes, I just looked at the map and there is a lot of activity going on right now along North and South America.

[GlennO]

John! Distracted posting! Guilty watching -Top Shot

YES OUR side of the Pacific

[arapahoepark]

Ah that volcano.

It is a quite interesting one! I remember when it erupted back in 1999 the same time as a volcano close to Ecuador's capital quito erupted. Seemed like hell for ecuador.

[SonSeeker]

John! Distracted posting! Guilty watching -Top Shot

YES OUR side of the Pacific

Yeah bro, I knew what you meant, but I just couldn't resist.

Am FINALLY back home after a six day run at the mine.

I had an interesting conversation with a fellow mine driver, we were discussing exactly the point you make about our side of the Ring of Fire. Specifically, North America has been spared from any major devastation, but I believe that will change soon.

I know you're on high ground bro, I pray it's high enough.

[DanLW]

Just coming off my post in the 240 tornadoes thread, this is interesting. But does this have potential to be a "media event"? Several years ago (over a decade ago, likely) I looked into volcanism around the world when I was trying to compare total manmade emissions vs total volcanic emissions over the course of a year. What I found was that there are a lot more active volcanoes than many people realize. Just a lot of them are mildly active, where they spit rocks, lava, and smoke every so often, but that's about it. Or if there is a major eruption, it is in a sparsely populated area with no news cameras, and so it's not a media event.

The area around this volcano does have heavy population. The city of Baños has roughly 25,000 people. But the country has evacuated them in the past, so provided the volcano doesn't erupt unexpectedly, loss of life will probably be minimal.

Having looked at the history of this volcano, it looks like it "lets off steam" at pretty regular intervals, so I doubt we will see a truly "epic" eruption from this one, unless an unexpected eruption takes out tens of thousands of people. Mt St Helens had a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of V. Mt. Pinatubo was a VI. The largest eruption in recent history was the Tambora eruption of 1815, a VII. This eruption actually caused a "nuclear winter". The only other VII listed by Wikipedia is the the eruption of Hatepe in 186.

We shall see...