Nevado del Huila

Nevado del Huila is the tallest volcano in Columbia, sitting at 5,365 meters. This volcano had remained dormant for 500 years until 2007 when it began having numerous seismic events. Although small, these events numbered in the thousands. In April of 2007 the volcano had a minor eruption with a majority of the damage coming from avalanches that it caused into the Paez River and the subsequent effect on water levels. In March of 2008 more seismic activity was being reported inside the volcano and it was placed on yellow alert by Columbian officials. This is alert level 1, where the volcano is restless and the possibility of an eruption exists. In November of 2008 the volcano erupted and claimed 10 lives despite efforts by the Columbian government to produce large scale evacuations. On January 27^th, 2009 a report was done by CNN on the recent activity of Nevado del Huila. It stated that Columbian officials have already evacuated 800 families from the immediate area surrounding the volcano which had an orange alert level at the time. This level means that an eruption is plausible at any moment, geologists estimated within days or weeks. The volcano holds almost 14 billion gallons of lava and the following Monday Columbian authorities were prepared to evacuate everyone that was even remotely close to the vicinity of the volcano if it turned to an alert level of red. The volcano has erupted only four times total, the first aforementioned happened 500 years ago in the 1500s. Steps were being taken to monitor the volcano more closely, by obtaining new technology to observe temperature and seismic changes of even the slightest amount. Officials stated they had four centers watching the seismic activity and they had recently installed a microphone and infrared cameras inside the volcano itself. The most recent update for Nevado del Huila that I came across was for the beginning of November 2009 which stated the volcano is still set at an orange alert level. On November third there were partial collapses of the lava dome on the western side but that the volcano still remains a constant threat.

References

"Evacuations begin near Colombian volcano - CNN.com." CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Web. 05 Dec. 2009. .

"INTLVRC - Alerts." International Volcano Research Centre. Web. 05 Dec. 2009. .

"Nevado del Huila Update." The Volcanism Blog. Web. 05 Dec. 2009. .