Nevado del Huila (, ) at , is the highest

volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the ...

, located at the

tripoint A tripoint, trijunction, triple point, or tri-border area is a geographical point at which the boundaries of three countries or subnational entities meet. There are 175 international tripoints as of 2020. Nearly half are situated in rivers, l ...

of the departments of Huila, Tolima and Cauca. It is visible from the city of

Cali Santiago de Cali (), or Cali, is the capital of the Valle del Cauca department, and the most populous city in southwest Colombia, with 2,227,642 residents according to the 2018 census. The city spans with of urban area, making Cali the second ...

. The

andesitic Andesite () is a volcanic rock of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the intermediate type between silica-poor basalt and silica-rich rhyolite. It is fine-grained (aphanitic) to porphyritic in texture, and is composed predomin ...

volcano is located on top of the Ibagué Batholith.Plancha 322, 1999 After being dormant for more than 500 years, the volcano showed heavy signs of activity in 2007 and 2008. As of February 20, 2007, there were more than 7000 "minor" seismic events, and a high state of alert was in place for the departments of Cauca, Huila, Caldas and Valle del Cauca. The volcano erupted twice in April 2007, once in April 2008 and again in November 2008. Any eruption would affect the small villages around the volcano, mostly Páez, where their inhabitants still have in memory the eruption of the Nevado del Ruiz volcano and the destruction of Armero.

Eruptions

2007 eruption

On April 18, 2007, the volcano erupted twice causing avalanches into the Paez River; this event caused water levels to rise along the

Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...

. More than 4,000 people were evacuated with no casualties reported.

2008 activity and eruption

Nevado del Huila became active again in March 2008. After a multitude of earthquakes inside the volcano, Colombian authorities declared a state of yellow alert on March 18. The state of alert was increased to orange on March 29, meaning an eruption could be expected within two weeks. Hundreds of people were evacuated. On April 14, 2008 at 11:08 pm, an ash eruption took place, prompting the government to issue a red alert and evacuate 13,000 to 15,000 people from around the mountain. The state of red alert was again lowered to orange on April 16, following diminished activity.

November 2008 eruption

On November 20, 2008, the volcano erupted at 02:45 GMT (at 21:45 on November 20 local time) according to

Colombian Institute of Geology and Mining Colombian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Colombia * Colombians, persons from Colombia, or of Colombian descent **For more information about the Colombian people, see: *** Demographics of Colombia *** Indigenous p ...

. An immediate mass-scale evacuation was put in motion by the Colombian authorities, which the inhabitants of some towns reportedly refused. There were no injured reported at the time. On November 23, 2008, ''

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'', citing Colombian authorities, announced that the eruption had claimed ten lives, with 12,000 nearby residents being evacuated and emergency services unable to reach many of the more remote affected locations. The eruption had triggered an avalanche of earth and debris that damaged houses, bridges and crops on plantations. The three small towns of

Paicol Paicol is a town and municipality in the Huila Department Huila () is one of the departments of Colombia. It is located in the southwest of the country, and its capital is Neiva. Demography and Ethnography Huila is a department that has a p ...

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. According to the , it has a population of 654,324 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 787,294 inhabitants. It is located 9 kilometers (6 miles) inland from th ...

and Belalcázar along the Páez River were affected by this eruption. Extensive instrumentation of the volcano, put in place by the existing national system for prevention and care of disasters,Dirección Nacional para la Prevención y Atención de Desastres
/ref> which includes training of local inhabitants in high-risk regions and deployment of alarms in nearby towns, reportedly prevented large-scale deaths. President Álvaro Uribe ordered the

Air Force of Colombia , "We are the Force" , colours = , colours_label = , march = Colombian Air Force Hymn , mascot = Capitan Paz , anniversaries = 8 November , ...

to create an "air bridge" to provide supplies for cut off towns along the

Páez River The Páez River (Río Páez ) is a river in southwestern Colombia. It is a tributary of the Magdalena River which drains into the Caribbean Sea. It flows into the Magdalena just south of the village of Remolino del Vicho. Earthquake On 6 June 1 ...

References

Bibliography

External links

Global Volcanism Program

Nevado del Huila Volcano Observatory
{{Volcanoes of Colombia, state=expanded Páramos Stratovolcanoes of Colombia Geography of Cauca Department Geography of Huila Department Geography of Tolima Department Active volcanoes Andean Volcanic Belt Mountains of Colombia Glaciers of Colombia Biosphere reserves of Colombia 21st-century volcanic events Natural disasters in Colombia 2007 in Colombia 2008 in Colombia 2007 natural disasters 2008 natural disasters Holocene stratovolcanoes Quaternary South America Five-thousanders of the Andes