The Guatemalan authorities ordered the evacuation of several communities near Volcán de Fuego on Monday night following an eruption. Claudinne Ogaldes, Executive Secretary of the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction (CONRED), confirmed that the volcanic activity began Monday morning and intensified throughout the day, prompting the decision to evacuate the nearby areas.
Live broadcasts showed large gas and ash columns as the volcano emitted significant amounts of incandescent lava and fast-moving pyroclastic flows down its slopes. According to a press release from the Institute of Seismology, Volcanology, Meteorology and Hydrology (INSIVUMEH), the eruption increased its explosive level, generating a lava fountain rising 200 to 300 meters above the crater, spreading incandescent material across the volcano’s flanks.
As a preventive measure, CONRED reported that evacuations were underway in El Porvenir hamlet and Las Lajitas village in San Juan Alotenango, within Sacatepéquez department. About 50 families, comprising around 250 individuals, are planned to be relocated to San Juan Alotenango’s municipal facilities.
A previous eruption on June 3, 2018, led to hundreds of fatalities and the disappearance of an entire community, impacting up to 1.7 million people. The National Route 14 near the volcano has been closed, and the Ministry of Education has suspended classes in Alotenango, Sacatepéquez, Escuintla in Escuintla, and Yepocapa in Chimaltenango municipalities.
The Volcán de Fuego, one of Guatemala’s most active volcanoes, stands at 3,768 meters high. It is a stratovolcano, characterized by its tall, conical shape formed from hardened lava, ash, and rock layers, located between the departments of Escuintla, Chimaltenango, and Sacatepéquez in the southern and central regions of the country. In June of the previous year, the volcano entered another eruptive phase, which also led to precautionary evacuations.