Covenant News

Cleanup Continues in Aftermath of Volcanic Eruption

QUITO, ECUADOR (November 6, 2002) - Cleanup work continues following the eruption earlier this week of the 11,775-foot El Reventador, which spewed white ash over a large area and triggered rockslides, forcing both the Covenant Bibl e College-Ecuador campus and the Quito airport to close.

Classes were cancelled and students moved into faculty homes as a safety precaution, with no reported injuries to students or staff. (For more details and a photo, see an earlier story in the Covenant news report.)

"Greetings from beautiful Quito - it is not quite as beautiful as usual," begins a first-person report from Covenanters Wayne and Mary Anne Weld, who were in the area when the volcano erupted. "We live in the middle of several volcanoes. Once in awhile one decides to relieve a bit of its built-up tension.

"On Sunday we came out of church to discover volcanic ash on our car," the Welds write. "It seems that El Reventador, a volcano about 60 miles east, blew. It sent a cloud of 'ceniza' over the city. Yesterday most things were closed so people could clean up the mess. The air was full of ash and it was necessary to wear protective masks outside. There was one death and several injuries as people tried to clean off their roofs, and some fell off. Unlike snow, it doesn't melt, so it must be cleaned up. It can clog the sewer system (already somewhat suspect) if it washes down the drains. Wayne spent an hour and a half cleaning our part of the 'azotea,' a part of the roof designated for hanging clothes to dry. The airport will be closed for at least a week. They have hired 800 people at about a dollar an hour to hand sweep the runways.

"For us it was an inconvenience but for many it was a disaster," the update continues. "We have yet to learn much about how this volcanic activity has affected those who live closer to the volcano. There are several Covenant churches in that area and we have heard that agriculture has been greatly affected. Pray for those who suffer. Ecuador has enough economic problems without this extra burden."

Reventador has erupted 24 times since 1541 - the last eruption was January 1976, according to www.VolcanoWorld.org, an Internet volcano web page from the University of North Dakota.

More information will be posted on this Evangelical Covenant Church news site as it becomes available.

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