Tungurahua Acting Up Again (January 7, 2008)

(View of Tungurahua volcano courtesy Ecuador Geophysical Institute.)

Ecuador's Tungurahua volcano is getting feisty again. In recent weeks, the volcano belched clouds of dark ash and streams of lava. Lahars or mudslides rumbled down its slopes while the ground around the summit shook from swarms of small quakes.

People in villages surrounding the volcano are nervously watching the new activity. In August 2006, four people were killed and 5,000 homes were destroyed in an eruption that scorched thousands of acres of farmland.
Tungurahua, which means "throat of fire" in the native Quechua language, sits about 90 miles (150 kilometers) south of the capital Quito. Its last major eruption lasted from 1916 to 1918. In October 1999, an eruption forced villagers to flee the nearby town of Banos.

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