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Popocatepetl staat op uitbarsten

AMSTERDAM - De vulkaan Popocatepetl in Mexico spuwt stoom, rotsblokken en as. Mexico heeft het alarmniveau verhoogd. Scholen in de omgeving zijn gesloten en hulpdiensten maken zich op voor evacuaties.

Popocatepetl heeft een hoogte van 5.450 meter en ligt zo'n 80 kilometer van Mexico-Stad af.

Ook al zijn sommige auto's al bedolven onder een laagje as, het kan nog weken of zelfs maanden duren voor het tot een echte uitbarsting komt. Mensen is geadviseerd hun mond te beschermen.

De vulkaan staat in de omgeving bekend onder de namen 'El Popo' en 'Don Goyo'. De afgelopen jaren spuwde het sporadisch al as en rook uit. In 2000 vond er een grote uitbarsting plaats waardoor zo'n 50.000 mensen in de buurt moesten evacueren.

Het alarmniveau staat nu op de hoogste fase geel. De volgende fase is rood.

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A volcano within view of Mexico City has begun to erupt.

Steam, smoke and hot fragments of rock began to be ejected from Popocatepetl this past weekend.

The Volcano is located about 50 miles southeast of Mexico's capital, Mexico City. The metropolitan area of Mexico City is home to approximately 21 million people.

According to Reuters, Mexico's National Center for Disaster Prevention this week raised the alert level to three on a scale from one to seven, with seven being the greatest threat.

The volcano has had a long history of frequent minor to moderate eruptions.

In 2000, thousands of residents surrounding the nearly 18,000-foot mountain were forced to evacuate. Popocatepetl is North America's second highest volcano.

Eruptions have occurred in November and June of 2011.

According to VolcanoDiscovery.com, Popocatepetl was dormant during the 1950s, 60s, 70s and 80s.

Mexico authorities were recommending limiting access to the area, including air travel due to the frequency of the volcanic activity of late.

Ash from volcanoes can be carried into the intake of engines, leading to failure.

During a major eruption, smoke and ash can be carried for hundreds and thousands of miles downwind, depending on weather conditions. Such was the case with Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland during 2010.

Accord to Smithsonian, the last major eruption of Popocatepetl, which including a pyroclastic flow, occurred around 800 AD.

A pyroclastic flow is a combination of lethal hot gas and ash, similar to what happened in Pompeii, Italy.

Popocatepetl is the Aztec word for smoking mountain.

Surface winds at Mexico City during April 17, 2012, were from the north-northeast. Higher in the atmosphere on the 17th, winds shifted to the west and southwest, but were not steering the smoke plume over the Mexico capital.

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Super-heated rock fragments hurled a mile in the air, more to follow likely
MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano hurled super-heated rock fragments half a mile (a kilometer) into the air early Thursday and officials warn more and bigger outbursts are likely.

The volcano southeast of Mexico City continued to send towering plumes of ash and water vapor into the air during the day as the ground around it shuddered, according to the National Disaster Prevention Center. The gritty, abrasive volcanic ash can ruin car engines, block drains and damage crops.

The center said the ash and vapor rose about 2,600 feet (800 meters) above the crater at midday and it was being blown to the east-northeast, away from the Mexican capital.

Authorities this week raised the alert level due to increasing activity at the 17,886-foot (5,450-meter) peak. Its most violent eruption in 1,200 years occurred on Dec. 18, 2000.

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As vulkaan Popocatépetl bereikt Mexico-Stad

MEXICO-STAD - De onrustige vulkaan Popocatépetl in Mexico spuwt nu zoveel as uit dat die de hoofdstad Mexico-Stad bereikt, circa 60 kilometer verderop.

Na een serie explosies was een aswolk van 2 kilometer hoog ontstaan boven de krater. Door de sterke westenwind dwarrelde het gruis neer in vier wijken van de miljoenenstad, meldde het nationale rampencentrum Cenapred donderdag.

Burgemeester Marcello Ebrard vroeg de bewoners in de getroffen gebieden om de huizen alleen te verlaten met een mondkapje.

De 5400 meter hoge vulkaan Popocatépetl was in april actief geworden. Het rampencentrum houdt rekening met een uitbarsting in de komende tijd. De bewoners in de regio zijn voorbereid op evacuatie.

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Mexican Volcano Popocatépetl Eruptions Increase
At least 26 eruptions accompanied by steam and gas, as well as a volcano tectonic quake were registered as a consequence of the Mexican volcano Popocatépetl activity during the last hours, it was reported Tuesday.

The National Center of Disaster Prevention (Cenapred) said eruptions were of low and medium intensity with no ash expulsion in any of them.

According to the institution, the volcano tectonic quake was registered at 11.54 local time (16:54 GMT).

At this moment, the alert light of volcano activity remains yellow phase 2 and the surrounding population to keep informed as to alerts on the activity of the volcano also known as Don Goyo.

Traffic between Santiago Xalitzintla and San Pedro Nexapa, via the Cortes passage, is under control.

The Popo is located at the center of the country, in the territorial limits of the Morelos, Puebla and Mexico states.

Located 55 kilometers Southeast of the Federal District, the Popocatépetl is the second highest volcano in Mexico, with a maximum height of five thousand 458 meters above sea level, only second to the Pico de Orizaba (Veracruz) with five thousand 610 meters.