“Any Ecuadorian government and citizens should be prepared for an imminent strong eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano”

In this Government or in the next ones there will be an imminent eruption of considerable proportions from the Cotopaxi volcano. Specialists and studies determine it like this. Historical records detail that on June 26, 1877, the Cotopaxi volcano had a large eruptive phase that surprised scientists at the time due to the damage it caused.

The lahars caused by the colossus reached the Pacific Ocean. Due to this type of activity, Cotopaxi is the volcano that would generate the greatest risk to the country if it erupts forcefully, and for this reason it is also one of those with the widest monitoring network. .

A strong eruption of the Cotopaxi volcano would cause lahars that would reach the Pacific Ocean

Also, an early warning system. The recurrence period of an eruption of this volcano is between 80 and 150 years. History and science indicate that if there was a strong eruption in the past, there will also be one in the future.

However, there is currently equipment installed in Cotopaxi that allows us to know if its eruptive process is increasing and this would allow a safe evacuation of the 770,000 people who are in the exposure area, says Rodrigo Rosero, general undersecretary of the National Secretariat for Management. of Risks.

”The volcano has been active since 2015. At any time, in any administration, it will have to face an eruption process with a higher level of explosiveness. Under this technical criterion when we arrived we decided to generate processes to prepare, although now we have had to do it with the pressure that the volcano is active”, he points out.

The official adds that it is unlikely to have a violent eruption scenario anytime soon. Currently there are 22 lookouts around the volcano who maintain constant communication with the Geophysical Institute and ECU911.

Mario Rocha is one of the watchmen of the colossus. He affirms that they constantly send reports to the competent authorities to evaluate the scenarios. In these days the smell of sulfur was reported, but this is a normal scenario in the current phase in which the volcano is.

In addition, there is equipment installed in the colossus that allows activity to be monitored and for now the signs indicate that the levels do not even reach the scenario that was experienced in 2015, when it was moderate. There are seven years of data.

Geophysical Institute fully monitors six volcanoes that are the most active in Ecuador

”The most probable scenario is that we remain as we are with emissions of ash, gases. A second scenario is that we reach 2015 levels″, says Rosero.

He stresses that citizens must understand that the siren system installed in populations at risk is not that they will always activate and tell the population that they have, for example, half an hour to evacuate: “We are going to get to the stage of saying tomorrow the classes that remain in the area of ​​incidence are suspended. When we activate the sirens it will be when we have a red alert, but having gone through orange and yellow. We will ask to evacuate in a very strong scenario”.

According to the official, the centers that would function as a shelter after a potential eruption are also ready. He affirms that they have contacted more than four thousand people who live in nearby areas to inform them of the dangers of the volcano and that this number will continue to rise. They will also conduct evacuation drills in the coming months. (YO)