Cotopaxi Eruption could impact over 300,000 people

japantimes.co.jp reported nearly 325,000 people could be affected by an eruption of Cotopaxi, the volcano looming beyond the Ecuadoran capital of Quito, officials said Monday.

The biggest risk is from an eruption melting the 5,900-meter (19,000-foot) mountain’s snowcap and triggering massive melt-water floods and lahar mudflows that could sweep through nearby towns, Ecuador’s minister of risk management Maria del Pilar Cornejo told a press conference.

Considered one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world, Cotopaxi sent an ash plume high into the sky on Friday, before spewing several smaller clouds and leaving surrounding towns with a light dusting of volcanic ash. The last eruption was in 1877. Read Article

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