Ecuador evacuation after increased activity around Cotopaxi volcano

The move will allow Mr Correa to mobilise security forces throughout the country and give him greater leeway to use financial resources in the event an eruption.

The AP said Cotopaxi is among Earth’s most unsafe volcanoes, for two reasons – during an eruption, its glaciers have the potential to set off swiftly traveling volcanic rock and mudflows, and the fact that it is so close to Quito.

The Cotopaxi Volcano located near the capital city of Quito in Ecuador has spewed ash again after its last major explosion in 1877.

Arguably, the tipping point in Ecuador declaring a state of emergency was the distance traveled for the Cotopaxi eruption. Brian Manzano, a local hotel receptionist, described the first thing he saw when he looked outside: “when I got up, I opened the door of the hotel and saw a auto covered in ash”. Other volcanoes that recently erupted are Raung in East Java, Sakurajima in Kyushu this year, 2015, and volcanoes in Hawaii, Alaska, Italy and Iceland in 2014, reports Christian Science Monitor. Mountaineers are also banned from climbing the snow-capped peak volcano.

Even though slight bits of activity have been detected in the past 4 months, government officials and scientists confirm that Cotopaxi is nowhere near a volcanic eruption.

Patricio Ramon, who is a member of the institute, told Teleamazones TV that the explosions were a result of molten rock meeting water, effecting a violent stream release.

The volcano sits 31 miles south of Quito and rises 19,685 ft. The Cotopaxi volcano still shows sign of increasing activity alarming the people living nearby.

An estimated one million people live in the volcano’s area of influence, which includes parts of Cotopaxi, Napo and Pichincha provinces.