Tungurahua

The Tungurahua on November 28, 2004

Pd5

The Tungurahua is an active stratovolcano which lies south-east of Ambato on the eastern slopes of the Andes of Ecuador and the Amazon dominates. The name probably comes from the Quechua of tunguri = Maw, Rahua = burning, fire -breathing.

Volcanic activity

In 1999, a major activity for the evacuation of 22,000 people located at its foot the town of Baños and its surroundings. Ash clouds rose about 10 km high in the atmosphere and covered in the low case, over 500 km ² of land. Mudslides led to road damage. Since then continuously recorded at times, times decongestant, Rauchausstöße and minor eruptions. In July 2006, there was another strong smoke and Ascheausstößen and eruptions of lesser intensity.

In the early morning hours of August 17, 2006, the volcano showed the strongest Lavaausstöße since 1999., Five villages were buried and burned, six people from the village Palitahua were killed and 13 were injured. A total of 3200 people from the surrounding villages and the town of Baños were evacuated, the provinces of Tungurahua and Chimborazo were declared a disaster area for a few days.

On 16 October 2006, the volcano spewed a second time minor lava flows and several tons of ash up to 8 km altitude. Surrounding villages in the north had to be evacuated again, deaths or injuries were not complaining.

On February 6, 2008, nearly 1,500 people have fled their homes after an ash and rock rain. According to local media reports, several villages were severely damaged by the eruption, at least five people were killed. The Tungurahua spewed lava, rocks rolled down the west side of the mountain, and the volcano was a ten- mile-high ash cloud. The ash rain destroyed according to the authorities 20,000 hectares of arable land. About 400 living on the slopes of the mountain families were evacuated. Ecuador's President Correa declared a state of emergency for the region.

On May 22, 2010, the volcano erupted again. The produced ash cloud was over ten kilometers high. The airport and all schools in the largest city in Ecuador, Guayaquil, was closed and several villages evakuiert.Eine new eruptive phase started on 22 November 2010.

On 17 December 2012, the Tungurahua erupted again and erupted tons of ash and glowing rocks. The ash cloud from the eruption was about 7 miles high. The inhabitants of the surrounding villages were evacuated in time.

On March 10, 2013, the Tungurahua erupted again and hurled tons of ash and glowing rocks on the surrounding areas. On April 1 to February 3 and 5, 2014, there was renewed eruptions, where about 8 or 10 mile-high ash clouds were ejected.