Evacuation drill scheduled as volcanic activity increases in Cotopaxi

Early Friday morning saw a slight fall of ash expelled from the crater of Ecuador’s Cotopaxi volcano, part of its current eruptive process, according to the Risk Management Secretariat. The ash precipitated in various sectors of the rural town of Mulaló, located in the province of Cotopaxi, triggering a scheduled evacuation drill to take place Friday afternoon in the event of a major eruption.

Reports from the Geophysical Institute of the Escuela Politécnica Nacional indicate that a cloud of gases and ash emanating from Cotopaxi reached an altitude of 1,500 meters above the crater. The clouds were moving due to the wind south-west. The eruption is accompanied by a tremor within the volcano, detected in IG’s stations around the massif.

This emission of gases and ash from Cotopaxi has been intermittthant and frequent since its current eruptive process began at the end of October 2022. Cotopaxi is one of the three volcanoes that are currently erupting in Ecuador along with El Reventador, located 60 kilometers east of Quito, and the Sangay, located in the eastern foothills of the Andean mountain range.

It is advised to follow the evacution and precautionary drill in the event of major eruption.