BOGOTA—Colombia’s government is trying to speed up the evacuation of some 2,500 families living closest to the Nevado del Ruiz volcano, which is being monitored for a possible eruption, but some residents are refusing to leave.
The volcano’s eruption in 1985 killed more than 25,000 people in Colombia’s biggest-ever natural disaster, with avalanches of earth and rock fragments burying entire settlements.
The government has raised the volcano’s alert level to orange, following a surge in seismic activity that suggests a heightened chance of an eruption in the coming days or weeks, and begun some preventative evacuations.
President Gustavo Petro has asked for evacuations to move more quickly and disaster officials have said livestock—critical to many livelihoods in the rural area—may be moved as well, or farmers will be allowed to return during the day to care for them….