Families Flee Active Volcano in Ecuador

[Pastor Dale Morgan]

*Perilous Times*

Mar 5, 9:42 PM EST
*
Families Flee Active Volcano in Ecuador*

QUITO, Ecuador (AP) -- Authorities evacuated about 100 families from the
slopes of a volcano in central Ecuador which began showering villages
with flaming rocks and ash.

Firefighters, police and civil defense officials conducted a voluntary
evacuation because of the Tungurahua volcano's intensifying activity,
Jorge Arteaga, director of Ecuador's Red Cross rescue squad, told Radio
Quito on Monday.

The 16,575-foot volcano, whose name means "throat of fire" in the
Quechua language, shot a 1.2-mile plume of ash into the sky on Feb. 12.

Santiago Arellano, a technician at Ecuador's Geophysics Institute, told
The Associated Press that Tungurahua is registering its most intense
activity since it erupted last August, killing four people and
destroying or severely damaging nearly 5,000 homes.

Arellano said Monday that an eruption is not imminent, but warned the
volcano's activity could increase within hours. The volcano is located
about 85 miles south of the capital of Quito.