Ecuador Volcano Spews Rocks, Ash*

By DOLORES OCHOA
The Associated Press
Thursday, January 10, 2008; 9:17 PM

COTALO, Ecuador -- Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano on Thursday hurled fiery
rocks and sent a column of ash and steam 1 1/2 miles above its crater.
Experts have warned that Tungurahua is poised for a major eruption
within a matter of days or weeks.

On Sunday, 1,000 villagers were evacuated from 10 hamlets on the western
slopes of the 16,575-foot volcano in central Ecuador.

Silvia Vallejo, a volcanologist at Ecuador's Geophysics Institute, told
Radio Sonorama that Thursday's eruption sent a column of ash and steam 1
1/2 miles into the air. She added the explosions were accompanied by
roars from within the volcano and there have been reports it showered
ash down on nearby villages.

Tungurahua, which has been active since 1999, has been releasing a high
level of energy since Dec. 22, according to U.S. volcanologist Cynthia
Mothes.

She told The Associated Press that it could cause mean pyroclastic flows
_ blasts of volcanic material "that descend at high speeds and burn
everything in their way."

Housing Minister Maria de los Angeles Duarte told journalists that the
government will have 500 temporary homes ready for evacuated villagers
in the next few days.

Tungurahua, whose name means "throat of fire" in the indigenous Quichua
language, erupted in July and August 2006, causing at least four deaths.

Those eruptions forced the evacuation of thousands of villagers and
buried crops for miles around under ashes and lava flows.