Nearly a thousand people were evacuated early Monday morning following a new eruption of the Fuego volcano in Guatemala, which is located near the capital and considered the most active volcano in Central America. The colossus, located about 35 km southwest of Guatemala City, increased its eruptive activity on Sunday with the release of columns of lava, ash, and rocks.
“As a preventive measure, about 125 families, approximately 900 people, have begun to be evacuated” from the hamlet of El Porvenir in the municipality of Alotenango, the spokesperson for the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), Juan Laureano, told journalists. Another group from the Las Lajitas community was also evacuated, the official added, although he did not specify the number.
Several evacuated people with some belongings, including elderly and children, arrived at the Alotenango municipal hall that will function as a temporary shelter. “We have relocated people who have recently undergone surgery or who have a medical condition,” said 50-year-old independent firefighter César Chávez.
Other residents arrived in Alotenango in police patrols. Conred declared an orange alert Sunday night to “coordinate prevention and response actions” with the mayors of municipalities near the 3,763-meter-high volcano, which is located between the departments of Escuintla, Chimaltenango, and Sacatepéquez.
The last effusive eruption of the Fuego volcano occurred in May 2023 and caused the evacuation of about 1,200 people.
Preventive measures
Due to the incessant eruption, the government also suspended classes in Alotenango and closed a highway that passes through the town connecting the south of the country with the colonial city of Antigua, Guatemala’s main tourist site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
An eruption of the Fuego volcano caused an avalanche of burning material on June 3, 2018, which devastated the community of San Miguel Los Lotes in Escuintla and part of the highway in Alotenango, leaving 215 dead and a similar number of missing people. Laureano added that they are also monitoring the descent of pyroclastic flows — a mixture of gases, ash, and high-temperature rock blocks that descend at high speed — that are flowing down the slopes of the volcano.
For its part, the state Volcanology Institute recommended taking precautions for air traffic due to ash that is moving about 50 km west of the volcanic cone, and added that the lava columns rise about 300 meters above the crater. The Fuego volcano has the reputation of being the most active in Central America since the arrival of the Spanish conquistadors. In Guatemala, the Santiaguito (west) and Pacaya (south) volcanoes are also active.
