Increasing volcanic activity in western Guatemala triggers yellow alert

Local authorities declared a yellow alert on Thursday for two departments of western Guatemala, Quetzaltenango and Retalhuleu, as a preventive response to increasingly forceful activity from the Santiaguito volcano. The volcano’s frequent eruptions can now be heard at a distance of 10 kilometers, and avalanches of burning material tumble down the volcano’s slopes in easterly and south-easterly directions. With ash columns registered at 1,200 meters above the summit crater, Guatemalan’s National Disaster Commission (CONRED) and National Institute of Seismology, Vulcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH) are closely monitoring the volcano in anticipation of the collapse of its active crater dome. While evacuation has not yet been ordered in the region, ash emissions have led to a warning for air traffic within a 15-kilometer radius. Read Article