Colombia raises threat level for deadly Nevado del Ruiz volcano

Authorities are reporting a spike in seismic activity, including rock breaking and earthquakes, around the snow-capped peak.

Authorities in Colombia have warned of an increase in seismic activity around the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, a peak responsible for the country’s worst recorded natural disaster, which killed 25,000 people in 1985.

On Friday, President Gustavo Petro said the threat of an eruption had increased, confirming a report issued by the Colombian Geological Survey a day earlier.

“We have an orange alert due to the change in seismology at the Ruiz volcano,” Petro wrote on Twitter. “Mayors need to establish the protocols for this state of readiness.”

An orange alert means an eruption is likely in weeks or even days. Only one level is up on the four-color warning scale: red, which means an eruption is imminent or in progress.

The Geological Survey released a bulletin on Thursday announcing the heightened threat level, noting that its researchers had noticed an increase in earthquakes, rock fractures and released seismic energy.

The agency also urged surrounding communities to “keep calm but be alert” to any news about the volcano’s condition.

As of March 24, the Geological Survey has documented fractures around the southwestern slope of the volcano, with depths between two and four kilometers (1.2 to 2.5 mi) from the summit.

Earthquakes and tremors around the volcano are also on the rise. The agency recorded 6,500 earthquakes on March 28, then 11,000 on March 29, and 9,600 on March 30 by the time the bulletin was issued.

However, most were relatively small, with the most powerful reaching a magnitude of 3.1 on the Richter scale.

But residents of surrounding towns took to social media to share photos and videos from the summit, which showed ash.

The Nevado del Ruiz volcano, part of the Andes mountain range, is located in the central part of Colombia, about 129 km (80 mi) from the capital Bogota.

It is part of a region commonly referred to as the “Ring of Fire” – a belt of intense seismic activity that encircles the Pacific Ocean from Chile to the US state of Alaska in the east, and from New Zealand to Russia in the east. West.

The Nevado del Ruiz is covered with glaciers and has a crater a kilometer wide at its peak. According to the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program, Nevado del Ruiz erupted as early as 8,600 years ago.

The first eruption observed and recorded was in 1570 and the current eruption period began in 2014, the program says on its website.

But the most famous eruption occurred on November 13, 1985, when the volcano spewed ash, gas, and magma.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said the eruption pushed nearly 20 million cubic meters (706 million cubic feet) of ash and rock out of the vents.

Melting snow caps caused violent lahars, debris flows composed of rocks, water and other volcanic material. Those lahars rampaged down the slopes of the volcano, entering nearby river valleys and attacking towns, including Armero, which was awash in mud and debris. About 21,000 died in that community alone.

It was South America’s deadliest eruption and the fourth largest death toll of a single eruption in history, according to the Global Volcanism Program.