Some 1,200 people evacuated preventively by the eruption of the Fuego volcano, the most active in Central America and close to the capital of Guatemala, returned this Saturday to their communities, after the end of the eruptive activity, the authorities reported.
“Indeed, everyone will return to their homes” this Saturday, Rodolfo García, spokesman for the state Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (Conred), told AFP.
Early Thursday morning, the volcano, 3,263 meters high and located 35 km southwest of Guatemala City, began a new eruptive phase with explosions and spewing lava and ash, which ended on Friday afternoon.
That same Thursday, evacuations began to two temporary shelters located in the municipality of Santa Lucía Cotzumalguapa, close to the colossus located between the departments of Escuintla, Chimaltenango and Sacatepéquez.
The evacuees, carrying their few belongings and food delivered by the authorities, boarded the yellow buses that took them to their respective communities on the slopes of the volcano.. In total there were seven towns from which they were evacuated.
The eruption affected 230,000, according to data from the Conred, the entity in charge of Civil Protection.
“Thank God we do not have to mourn injured or deceased people”commented on Friday the executive director of the entity, Óscar Cossío.
On Friday, due to the decrease in eruptive activity, vehicular traffic was enabled again on a section of road near the volcano that was closed preventively on Thursday.
The highway is a secondary road on the slopes of the volcano and connects several towns with the colonial city of Antigua, the country’s main tourist site and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979.
The Fuego volcano remains active and frequently unleashes its fury and causes hundreds of evacuees.
Last December, an eruption led the authorities to close the capital’s airport and the highway itself, but the volcanic activity ceased after a few hours.
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 that highway in Sacatepéquez, leaving 215 dead and a similar number missing.
The Fuego Volcano is reputed to be the most active in Central America since the Spanish conquistadors arrived some 500 years ago.