Alert for worrying increase in seismic activity of two volcanoes in Colombia

On the afternoon of Friday, October 17, the Geological Survey of Colombia (SGC) revealed an extraordinary bulletin where it warns the governor of Nariño, Jhon Rojas Cabrera, of the increase in seismic activity of the Doña Juana and Las Ánimas volcanoes, located in the Colombian Massif.

In the Bulletin you can read that from October 13, 2020 until the 16 of this month “Significant increase in seismic occurrence and energy released by earthquakes associated with rock fracture, cataloged as Volcano-Tectonic (VT); counting 229 events until 5:00 pm “.

According to the seismic bulletin, the activity of volcanoes continues at the Green level, in the volcanoes analyzed, but it is worrying that at least 141 seismic events were registered on Friday, the majority in the southwest of the Las Ánimas volcano, at “epicentral distances between 2 and 4 km from its summit, with depths between 3 and 5 km (reference level 4200 masl), and magnitudes less than 3.2 on the Richter scale ”.

Three of these earthquakes were highlighted by the SGC, as they would have been felt by inhabitants of the El Troje and Las Ánimas villages of the municipality of La Cruz. The telluric movements occurred at “2:46 am, 6:44 am and 9:45 am this Friday with magnitudes of 3.0, 3.2 and 2.4, respectively. No changes have been observed in other parameters of the monitoring carried out in these volcanoes ”, you can read in the bulletin.

In 2010, during August and October, The organism also registered similar seismic activity, when there were at least 1000 VT-type earthquakes (volcano-tectonic), but that only reached a magnitude of 2.7. Some of these movements generated rock and earth slides, particularly in the Montoso near the Doña Juana volcano.

The Doña Juana and Las Ánimas volcanoes are located in the Doña Juana-Cascabel Volcanic Complex National Natural Park, in the Colombian massif, between Nariño, Cauca and Putumayo and its area of ​​influence extends between the Nariño municipalities of Belén, San José de Albán , The Board of Gómez, La Cruz and San Bernardo; the Caucans Bolívar and Santa Rosa; and in the limits with Colón, Sibundoy and San Francisco, in Putumayo.

According to the SGC, you must be attentive to the evolution of the volcanic phenomenon and changes or anomalies will be reported.

According to the SGC page, the volcanoes of Sotará, Nevado del Huila, Cerro Negro, Chilés, Cerro Cahín, Galera and Nevado del Ruíz, have presented changes in volcanic activity in recent days.

In particular, the Nevado del Ruiz, during the last week and according to the monitoring data, continues to show instability in its behavior. “An acceleration of the volcanic process and consequently changes in the level of activity of the volcano is not ruled out”, indicated the SGC.

This Volcano, according to the latest SGC report, continues at the Yellow level of activity. At this level phenomena such as swarms of earthquakes, some of them felt, ash emissions, lahars, morphological changes, noise and odors of volcanic gases may occur, among others, that can alter the quality of life of populations in the volcanic area of ​​influence.

The volcano’s instability has lasted for ten years now, so it is vitally important not to get used to its behavior and to be attentive to the official information published by the Colombian Geological Survey. “It is reiterated to the authorities in the departments of Caldas and Tolima, to take extreme actions focused on risk reduction processes and disaster management as preparatory measures for future activity of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano,” says the Colombian monitoring body.