Columbia's Nevado del Ruiz volcano to erupt 'within days or weeks'; only few evacuated

Hundreds of families in Colombia have been dealing with the choice of either abandoning their homes and livelihoods or facing the devastation of a predicted volcanic eruption in the coming weeks, reported CNN. The Nevado del Ruiz volcano has been located in a densely populated farming area. One of Colombia’s highest peaks, Nevado del Ruiz volcano, has claimed tens of thousands of people in a massive 1985 eruption. Since March 30, the volcano has been on orange alert, which signifies that “an eruption is likely within days or weeks,” as per Colombia’s Geological Service report.

Colombian Volcano on Orange Alert 

As the volcano has been on an orange alert, nearby towns and villages have been ordered to evacuate. The local and national authorities have declared a state of emergency. Most of the nearby schools have resumed back to the pandemic-era home learning plans and local municipalities have been stockpiling first aid kits. Colombian President Gustavo Petro, on April 5, asked as many as 2500 families to evacuate the area as a precaution. However, many of them have refused to move out and said: "They are more worried about leaving their livelihoods and belongings behind than about potential lava flows." There has been no clear update as to how many families have been evacuated. According to Tolima’s civil protection unit director Luis Fernando Velez, only a small fraction, 87 people, had left their homes under his agencies’ watch, reported a local news media. 

Further, the slopes of the volcano, located between the Tolima and Caldas provinces in central Colombia, are fertile grounds for local farmers, who said that leaving their cattle behind would ruin them. Notably, the local government of Tolima province has announced the plan to rescue up to 12,000 cattle, out of a total of over 43,000. According to Tolima’s rural development secretary and the officer in charge of the cattle evacuation, Omar Valdes, farmers have been hesitating to evacuate because of the "previous bad experiences". Further, he explained, "On previous occasions, they evacuated, floods [caused by the volcano] didn’t affect their farms and when they came back the farmers found that most of their goods and cattle had been stolen." Meanwhile, as per the scientists at the Smithsonian Institute’s Global Volcanism Program, eruptions from the Ruiz volcano could be particularly lethal as the top of the peak is permanently capped by a layer of snow and ice, reported CNN.