Guatemala: explosive eruption at Santiaguito
Posted by
JAC on 4/27/2010, 6:28 am
The Santiaguito lava dome complex at Guatemala's Santa María volcano erupted yesterday, producing four explosions between approximately 18:50 and 20:00 local time and throwing an ash-laden plume up to altitudes of between 7.3 and 8.5 km.
The Instituto Nacional de Sismología, Vulcanología, Meteorología e Hidrología (Insivumeh) described two of the explosions as 'strong' and the other two as 'moderate to strong' in intensity.
Guatemalan newspaper El Periódico reports that ash reached 8.5 km above sea level, while Washington VAAC gives the altitude as FL 240 (24,000 feet / 7.3 km) in a volcanic ash advisory issued at 14:44 GMT on 26 April (later advisories issued at 15:15 GMT and 17:43 GMT say that some ash was reported at FL280 (28,000 feet / 8.5 km) and FL300 (30,000 feet / 9.1 km).
According to an Insivumeh volcanologist quoted by El Periódico, people in local communities were alarmed by small earthquakes during the eruption, and ashfall created visibility problems on nearby roads.
Local people had noticed rumblings from the volcano during the night of 25 April, reports El Quetzalteco.
The districts of Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, San Marcos, Huehuetenango, Suchitepéquez, Retalhuleu and Sololá have been affected by ashfall, and classes in local schools have been suspended.
Largely because of the ashfall hazard,
Guatemala's state emergencies agency, the Coordinadora Nacional para la Reducción de Desastres (Conred), has raised the alert level at Santiaguito to Orange (Naranja).
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Guatemala: explosive eruption at Santiaguito - JAC, 4/27/2010, 6:28 am Post A Reply
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