The general director (e) of the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management (UNGRD), Luis Fernando Velasco, presented a set of actions to strengthen the response preparation phase by the entities of the National Risk Management System of Disasters (SNGRD) before the level of orange activity that the Nevado del Ruiz volcano is registering.
It is important to highlight that the Nevado del Ruiz maintains orange alert for seismic activity and pulsatile ash emissions
“The municipal and departmental disaster risk management councils continue to advance different schemes to guarantee the preventive evacuation of the communities that are located 15 kilometers from the Arenas crater. In the Unit we are issuing all the recommendations for the territories”, said the general director (e) of the UNGRD, Luis Fernando Velasco.
For the communities located in the area with high threat and within the perimeter of 0 to 15 kilometers from the Arenas del Nevado del Ruiz crater, the UNGRD recommends an immediate evacuation in the places indicated by the municipal disaster risk management councils, given that the population located in this area would have less than an hour to evacuate.
In this sense, the UNGRD verified with the entities of the SNGRD and the municipal authorities that some sectors of 19 villages located in the municipalities of Herveo, Casabianca, Villahermosa and Murillo in the department of Tolima; eight in the municipality of Villamaría in Caldas and one in Santa Rosa de Cabal, Risaralda, are within the perimeter and must be evacuated preventively, according to the map provided by the Colombian Geological Service (SGC).
Meanwhile, Mayor Diego Ramos announced that Dosquebradas prepares to receive those affected by the eruption of Nevado del Ruiz
Likewise, the populations that are in high threat located at distances greater than 15 kilometers from the Arenas crater should take into account that the flow of lahars could move along the Gualí River from its source to the mouth of the Magdalena River and would involve the municipalities of Herveo, Fresno, Mariquita, Honda, Falán Palocabildo and Casabianca in Tolima, as well as the municipality of Guaduas, in the department of Cundinamarca.
Likewise, the municipalities of Casabianca, Villahermosa, Murillo, Líbano, Lérida, Ambalema, Armero and Honda in Tolima are at risk due to the passage of the Azufrado river and the Lagunilla river from its source to its discharge into the Magdalena river, while the Recio river would cause damages as it crosses the municipalities of Murillo, Líbano, Lérida, Venadillo and Ambalema in Tolima, and the Claro and Chinchiná rivers would affect Manizales and the Caldas municipalities of Anserma, Neira, Palestina, Chinchiná and Villamaría.
It should be noted that the municipalities that are in high threat due to lahar flows must monitor and follow-up in the field, update the status of secondary and tertiary roads considered evacuation routes, carry out evacuation drills with the community, review and adjust the emergency response strategy and strengthen early warning systems.
finally, the UNGRD reiterates to the emergency operating entities that they update the map of actors and the call chain and urges the authorities of the departments to activate their early warning systems, strengthen the telecommunications systems and mass dissemination through loudspeakers , as well as the alerts that facilitate timely notice to the communities located in these areas of the country.
For this reason, Army delivered radios in areas of influence of the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano