Nevado del Huila erupted again on November 20, 2008.Nevado del Huila, crested with a crown of ice, is the highest volcano in Colombia, at 5,365 metres tall. Nevado del Huila is located 270 kilometres southwest of Bogota, Colombia.
Volcanic activity commonly occur at the boundaries of the plates as the impact of the plate movement is the greatest. Nevado del Huila is included in the Northern Volcanic Zone of the Andean Volcanic Belt. The Andean Volcanic Belt is formed as a result of subduction of the Nazca Plate and Antarctic Plate underneath the South American Plate. The Northern Volcanic Belt has formed due to subduction of the Nazca Plate under western South America.
The volcano showed heavy signs of activity in 2007 and 2008 after being dormant for more than 500 years.
Until February 20, 2007, there were more than 7000 "minor" seismic events and a high state of alert was in place for the departments of Cauca, Huila, Caldas and Valle del Cauca.
Nevado del Huila erupted twice in April 2007, once in April 2008 and once more in November 2008. The eruptions affected the small villages around the volcano such as Paez and Cauca.
Nevado del Huila became an active volcano again in March 2008 after the 2007 eruptions with no casualties reported. After a multitude of earthquakes inside the volcano, the Colombian authorities declared a state of yellow alert on March 18. On March 29, the state of alert increased to orange. It meant that an eruption could be expected within days or weeks. Thus, hundreds of people were evacuated. On April 14, 2008 at 2308, an ash eruption took place. The government issued a red alert and evacuated 13,000 to 15,000 people from around the mountain. The state of red alert was then lowered to orange on April 16, following diminished activity.
On November 20, 2008, Nevado del Huila erupted at 2145 local time (at 0245 GMT on November 21). An immediate mass-scale evacuation was put in motion by the Colombian government. Inhabitants of some towns reportedly refused to evacuate the towns. However, there were no injuries reported at that time. A combination of heavy rains and the high altitude was making it difficult for rescue services, including helicopters, to reach the area. Roads were also blocked by snow and ice, bridges were destroyed and there were mudslides on the lower slopes.
Three days later on November 23, BBC News, citing Colombian authorities, announced that ten lives had been claimed, with 12,000 nearby residents being evacuated. The eruption provoked avalanches and floods swept away houses and bridges. As the bridges were swept away and the highway used by the indigenous in the zone was destroyed, there was a lack of route to deliver goods and medicines to the population.
The president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, flew over the affected area after the volcanic eruption.
"May God let there be no bad news about the people living there, and may we have no reports of a more serious situation," the president said to the reporters at one stop on his flight over the disaster area.
Extensive instrumentation of Nevado del Huila, put in place by the existing national system for prevention and care of disasters, which includes training of local inhabitants in high-risk regions and deployment of alarms in nearby towns, reportedly prevented large scale deaths. The president ordered the Air Force of Colombia to create an "air bridge" to provide supplies for cut off towns along Paez River.
I think that there is nothing we can do to stop the volcanic eruption. However, when the government decides to evacuate the town, the people should obey their instructions as the government only does this when lives of the people are concerned. They should not be stubborn and insist on staying put. This will prevent less casualties from happening. Also, the people should try to live as far as possible from Nevado del Huila as there may be an unexpected and sudden eruption.
References
Websites
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevado_del_Huila, extracted 28-02-2010
CNN.com, http://web.archive.org/web/20070429103611/http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/18/columbia.volcano.ap/index.html, extracted 28-02-2010
BBC NEWS, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7744324.stm, extracted 28-02-2010
Stuff.co.nz, http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/730097, extracted 28-02-2010
Latin America Herald Tribune, http://www.laht.com/article.asp?CategoryId=12393&ArticleId=321142, extracted 28-02-2010
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andean_Volcanic_Belt#Southern_Volcanic_Zone, extracted 28-02-2010
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