Word: volcano
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 2000-2009
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...double eruption produced none of the spectacular lava displays that characterize such perennially active volcanoes as Hawaii's Kilauea. Instead, the superheated magma within Nevado del Ruiz began to melt the thick blanket of snow and ice that caps the top 2,000 ft. of the peak. Filthy water started to flow down the sides of the mountain. The trickle swiftly turned into a torrent of viscous mud, stones, ashes and debris with a crest of 15 ft. to 50 ft. The liquid avalanche, known as a lahar, was soon hurtling down the steep slopes at speeds...
Many of Armero's residents probably never knew their prosperity was the result of Nevado del Ruiz's last eruption. On Feb. 19, 1845, according to Colombian Historian Rafael Gómez Picón, "subterranean sounds emanated from the upper part of the ... river on the slopes of the snowcapped volcano . . . accompanied by a series of slight quakes. Suddenly, out of the canyon wherein the Lagunilla River flows, an enormous and strange torrent of thick mud became dislodged at tremendous velocity. It dragged with it great blocks of snow, debris, trees and sand." According to Gómez's chronicle, the mudslide...
...avalanche poured down on Armero, it gained additional ferocity from several sources. Three days of torrential rains had greatly swollen the Lagunilla River, which was already choked with mudslides from the volcano's tentative stirrings in September. At that time geologists from the surrounding federal department of Tolima had expressed concern about the dangers from the dammed-up river. At first the departmental governor, Eduardo Alzate García, said that "there are no immediate risks." Two days later he changed his mind. The geologists declared the region at the base of the volcano a local emergency area, and Alzate planned...
...about 1,400) and two other small communities. To the west, on the opposite slope of Nevado del Ruiz, a second avalanche broke loose and headed for Chinchiná, a city of about 34,000. Some 200 families fled the area. Chinchiná, six miles from the base of the volcano, escaped major damage, but civil authorities estimate that 1,090 people died in the immediate area...
...news of the cataclysm spread, Colombia was stunned. President Betancur declared the 77 sq. mi. around the volcano a disaster zone. In Bogotá, long lines of blood donors formed outside the local Red Cross building; more than 10,000 pints were collected in less than 24 hours. Residents of the capital streamed to two major collection spots in the city bearing food, blankets, medicine and clothing. By Thursday morning a caravan of 300 trucks carrying thousands of tons of relief material was headed for Tolima department, a five-hour drive over narrow mountain roads...