The National Coordination of Civil Protection (CNPC) reported on Sunday that the volcanic alert traffic light rose from Yellow Phase 2 to Yellow Phase 3 due to the activity of Popocatépetl.
Laura Velázquez Alzúa, head of the CNPC, said that in this phase you can expect:
- Light to moderate explosions, which throw fragments into the vicinity of the crater.
- Light to moderate rains of volcanic ash in the surrounding populations and in some distant cities.
- Risk to aviation.
- Important growth of the dome.
- Possibility of magma ejection.
- Major explosions of increasing intensity that throw fragments at considerable distances.
CNPC
Óscar Zepeda Ramos, director of Analysis and Risk Manager of the National Center for Disaster Prevention (CENAPRED) said that this change in the traffic light does not imply evacuations or mobilizations in nearby areas but an improvement in government coordination schemes.
"(The change in the traffic light) means tightening all coordination schemes before an alarm that will involve the action of all levels of government [...] At this moment there is an increase, however it is not such a high increase that it implies a mobilization or an evacuation at this time, he said, according to TV Azteca.
Given this increase in intensity, Civil Protection announced that it ordered: prepare personnel, evacuation teams and shelters, implement specific actions for vulnerable populations, implement preventive actions against ash fall, alert air navigation systems, limit access to the volcano over an area greater than the current one (12 kilometers). Velázquez reported that the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Popocatepetl Volcano declared itself in permanent session.
The volcano has had 94 exhalations accompanied by water vapor, volcanic gases and ash in the last 24 hours, CENAPRED reported Saturday.
The agency said that 674 minutes of high-frequency tremor were counted, accompanied by the emission of incandescent fragments on the flanks of the volcano, located between the State of Mexico, Morelos and Puebla, about 70 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.
There were also three minor explosions during the morning and a moderate explosion in the early morning, the agency said.
The National Center for Communication and Operations of Civil Protection (CENACOM) reported on Saturday, slight ash fall in Tetela del Volcán, Morelos, as well as in the Venustiano Carranza, Gustavo A. Madero, Azcapotzalco, Tlalpan and Iztapalapa mayoralties, in Mexico City. Ashes were also recorded in about twenty municipalities in the State of Mexico.
Due to the fall of ash, the Puebla International Airport closed its operations for at least nine hours, from 11 pm on Saturday, said the Secretary of the Interior of the state, Julio Huerta, and Civil Protection of Puebla.
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Huerta said authorities would conduct an evaluation to see the possibility of opening the airport to operations at 6 a.m. on Sunday, but so far he has not announced any update.
Hours earlier, the International Airports of Mexico City (AICM) and Felipe Angeles (AIFA) suspended their operations for almost six hours on Saturday in the presence of ash, which forced cleaning work on the runways.
CENAPRED has a record of seven levels, divided into three colors, green, yellow and red, to classify the activity of the volcano.
Therefore, the agency urged people not to approach the volcano, and especially the crater, because of the danger of explosions, as has been seen on several occasions in the past, which involve the emission of incandescent fragments. And he insisted on respecting the exclusion radius of 12 km. Likewise, in case of heavy rains, move away from the bottoms of ravines due to the danger of mud and debris flows.
Before the fall of ashes, the researcher of the Institute of Geophysics of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) Carlos Valdés recommends:
- Wear a mask to avoid inhaling small particles that go into the lungs.
- Avoid wearing contact lenses.
- Avoid going out, especially vulnerable people such as children and the elderly.
- Collect the ash and store it in bags, avoid going to the drain and do not use water to remove it.
- If you clean the car, do it very carefully to avoid scratching it.
- Preferably do not drive, as the surface can be more slippery due to ash, which gets into the vehicle's filters, and visibility can worsen.
- Cover the water tanks, because although the ash is not toxic, it dirties the water.
Considered a stratovolcano for its conical shape and for being composed of several layers of hardened lava and ash, Popocatépetl has a height of 5,452 meters and a crater that reaches 900 meters.
According to Robin Campion, also a researcher at the Institute of Geophysics of the UNAM, the volcano is experiencing a gradual increase in activity that has not yet concluded, after a period of low activity between 2020 and 2022.
"We could have a high activity similar to that registered in the periods 2000-2003 and 2012-2016. This is a high activity because the volcano produces more explosions and the formation of larger lava domes is more frequent. However, we are currently below these levels," Campion told UNAM Global.