MEXICANS VIGILANT AS VOLCANO SPEWS CLOUD OF ASH, GAS
Increasing activity shutters schools across three states
At the edge of this town near the Popocatepetl volcano, away from the din of traffic, there was an occasional low rumble Monday, like an idling engine.
A cloud of superfine ash descended, slightly reducing visibility and coming to rest on vehicles’ windshields. For more than a week, the 17,797-foot mountain just 45 miles southeast of Mexico City and known affectionately as “El Popo,” has been increasingly explosive, spewing great plumes of gas, ash and incandescent rock into the air.
The activity led the Mexican government to raise the warning level and to close schools in dozens of municipalities across three states. On Monday, local, state and federal officials held drills for the possibility of evacuations.
“You hear it more at night,” said Violeta Fuentes, 39, who lives with her husband and two children, ages 9 and 12, on the outskirts of Santiago Xalitzintla. That’s also when they can see the glow from the crater. “Last night, several times it would go out one moment and then light up again.”
Fuentes said she was a bit unnerved by it “because you can see (the volcano) doesn’t want to be OK anymore.” The family worried about the impact the falling ash would have on their crops.
The alerts and preparations, however, are old hat for residents here.
Job Amalco, a driver, said it was normal. “It doesn’t scare us. We’re spectators of what nature gives us,” he said proudly.
But anxiety was beginning to build among some.
“It’s worrisome, above all because of the children, because you don’t know if there will be an enormous explosion or a small one,” said Claudia de la Cruz, 27, who has two children ages 3 and 5.
Her husband hikes up the volcano’s flanks each day to collect firewood to make charcoal. “He says that there it sounds like the peaks are crashing down and it shakes, but he’s brave for us,” she said.
De la Cruz remembers as a girl the first time she saw the mountain glow and how back then residents had little information. She trusts that now with a cellphone they will know in real time what is happening.
Still, the real warning residents listen for will be the tolling of the town’s church bells. Monday, they rang out as part of the drill.
There were no signs of panic Monday, but people worried about the possibility of having to evacuate, leaving homes and animals unattended. Authorities have warned people to stay out of the radius around the peak.
Florencio de Olarte, 69, and Plácida de Aquino, 72, recalled having to evacuate their home in the center of town twice before, years ago. On those occasions, “you could see (the volcano) was lit up, throwing out rocks,” Olarte said.
One of their children already wants them to come to Mexico City, but the couple doesn’t want to leave before authorities tell them they have to, because of their turkeys, pig and donkey. “We have animals and couldn’t leave them,” Aquino said.
“Right now there’s a lot of smoke plume and it oozes and thunders, the curtains shake,” Aquino said. But for the moment nothing more.
The volcano’s activity temporary halted flights at the capital’s two airports over the weekend.
On Monday, an ash plume extended hundreds of miles to the east, stretching out over the Bay of Campeche, according to a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report.