The potential eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano in Colombia has put hundreds of families in a difficult situation, as they must choose between abandoning their homes and livelihoods or risking devastation. The Nevado del Ruiz volcano, one of the highest peaks in Colombia, is located in a densely populated farming area and is infamous for its catastrophic 1985 eruption that claimed tens of thousands of lives. Since March 30, the volcano has been on orange alert, signifying that an eruption is likely to occur within days or weeks, according to Colombia's Geological Service.
Local and national authorities have declared a state of emergency, and towns and villages around the mountain have been asked to evacuate. However, many locals have refused to evacuate, saying they are more concerned about leaving their livelihoods and belongings behind than potential lava flows. Tolima's civil protection unit director Luis Fernando Velez has stated that only a small fraction of families have left their homes under his agency's watch, with just 87 people evacuating.
The slopes of the Nevado del Ruiz are fertile grounds for local farmers, who say leaving their cattle behind would ruin them. The local government in the province of Tolima has announced plans to evacuate up to 12,000 cattle out of a total of over 43,000. However, farmers are resisting the evacuation order due to previous bad experiences. In previous evacuations, floods caused by the volcano did not affect their farms, and when they returned, they found most of their goods and cattle had been stolen.
Eruptions from the Ruiz volcano can be particularly lethal because the peak is permanently capped by a layer of snow and ice. Once in contact with lava, the snow and ice would instantly melt and flood over the slopes of the mountain in torrential mudslides called lahars. In 1985, the last massive eruption of the volcano, the Armero Tragedy occurred, killing over 23,000 people in a matter of minutes. While many residents still remember the trauma of that day, few are willing to gamble their livelihoods on geologists' warnings alone. The same volcano erupted in 2012 without causing any deaths.
Although Tolima and Caldas are part of the relatively wealthy coffee-growing region of Colombia, most economic activity is run by small-scale farmers who own a limited number of animals and tend to small parcels of land. For these farmers, the cattle and agricultural equipment they own are their most valuable belongings. While the increasingly active volcano is monitored daily by dozens of probes, it is impossible to forecast exactly whether it will erupt, let alone when. However, there are troubling signs, such as the volcano ejecting steam, ashes, and gases, and a high level of seismicity closer to the crater. Recently, the ground around the volcano has been shaken by hundreds, sometimes thousands, of small tremors per day. On Friday, a column of ashes and smoke originating from the volcano rose onto the sky for over 1500 meters, as reported by the Colombian Geological Service.