volcano

Volcano erupts in western Mexico...
02/10/99
MEXICO CITY (AP) - An explosion shook the crater of the Volcano of Fire in
western Mexico early Wednesday, releasing lava, gas and ash and forcing officials
to evacuate some nearby residents. The government's Notimex news agency said
the village of Juan Barragan at the base of the volcano was being evacuated due to
a cloud of gas released by the 2 a.m. explosion at the volcano, part of the Colima
Volcano complex. Diego Hernandez, a radio operator at the Colima state civil
defense department, said several other villages also were being evacuated. But he
said "there are no great risks" to human life.

Mexico's Volcano of Fire rumbles, spews ash

MEXICO CITY (May 15, 1999 9:47 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Officials have warned
that the Volcano of Fire in western Mexico will likely have even larger eruptions after the
mountain rumbled and spewed ash some 7,200 feet above its crater.

The official scientific advisory committee for the volcano issued a report late Friday
saying that earthquake activity at the volcano, 75 miles south of Guadalajara, had
increased along with "explosive activity and emissions."

Small tremors within a volcano can indicate the movement of magma.

The committee, working with local civil defense organizations, predicted that there would
be an eruption similar to that of Feb. 10, when a series of explosions rocked the volcano
and shot ash three miles into the air. Officials already have evacuated several hundred
people from six small villages at the volcano's base.

The Volcano of Fire is one of three vents that make up the Colima Volcano complex.

The volcano had small eruptions in 1961, 1975, 1987, 1994 and 1998.

Increased volcanic activity worries Mexican officials

By The Associated Press

MEXICO CITY (May 25, 1999 2:39 a.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Increased seismic activity
at the Colima volcano in western Mexico could be a sign of an impending eruption,
government officials said.

The Interior Ministry said "important" explosions and gas releases continued Monday and were
slightly stronger than those on Sunday. This could be a sign of an eruption similar to or
greater than the one that occurred Feb. 10, when the volcano shot ash high into the air and
lava poured down its slopes, the ministry said.

About 650 people have been evacuated this month from a zone within 5 1/2 miles of the peak
of the 13,000-foot volcano, which is located 300 miles west of Mexico City.

Other communities within seven-mile radius of the peak have been placed on a state of alert

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