The SGS, or Colombia's Geological Service, has heightened alert levels on Nevada del Ruiz from yellow to orange. This warning alone shows that a volcanic eruption bigger than all the bursts in the last decade may take place in the coming weeks or days.
Nevado del Ruiz: Western Hemisphere's Deadliest Volcano
The deadly volcano was the reason behind one of the biggest disasters that took place in the western hemisphere. Now, according to the New York Post, it has been exhibiting increased seismic activity. Because of this, the government issued an evacuation order for those who are situated in potentially impacted and high-risk areas.
The volcano is located around 80 miles west of Bogotá. According to the SGS, earthquake levels within the area have reached an extremely high point that has not been seen since the devastating event in 1985.
MailOnline notes that, just last week, there was an unbelievable record of 6,000 daily earthquakes in the area. This urged officials to raise the alert level and evacuate more families. There are around 57,000 people who live in the hazard area of the volcano.
This is not the first time since 1985; however, alerts on Nevado del Ruiz have been raised. The government also raised the threat levels in 2012. While alert levels remained orange for a month and moved on to red later on, no serious eruption took place back then.
Nevertheless, with the record-high number of earthquakes documented recently, authorities are not taking any chances.
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Resistance to Evacuation
Phys adds, however, that despite the urgent evacuation order, thousands of residents are staying put in order to attend to their animals and crops.
Resident Luis Canon, for one, admits fear but says that he is left with no choice but to let fate decide for him. Canon adds that, if all these things are left behind, they will have nothing to go back to when they return.
Luis Fernando Velasco, the presidential adviser, explains that these villagers have poultry, sheep, cows, goats, and horses. Velasco adds that the fear of having these animals stolen stops them from moving out and participating in the evacuation.
Because of this, the government had to "adopt exceptional measures" to transfer roughly 80,000 animals away from these danger areas, as reported by Phys.
Nevado del Ruiz's Deadly 1985 Eruption
According to the BBC, back in 1985, Nevado del Ruiz erupted and triggered mudslides that destroyed the village of Armero. This massive eruption killed 25,000 residents, making it the deadliest eruption across the western hemisphere.
Given the extent of devastation brought about by this event, authorities are afraid that another eruption would cause similar damages as well.
Within hours, lava eruptions ended up melting areas of Nevado del Ruiz's snowcap. This triggered strong currents of rocks, ash, and mud that flowed down and destroyed the town of Armero. It was the country's worst natural disaster.
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