Nevado del Ruiz: The Volcano that Buried a Town

Around 240 volcanoes in the world are partly covered in ice. Most of these kinds of volcanoes can be found in Iceland, Alaska, Antarctica, and along the Canadian West Coast. Located in the Andes Mountains of west-central Colombia, 80 miles from the country’s capital, Bogotá, stands a glacier-covered volcano named Nevado del Ruiz. For centuries it appeared quiet and dormant, resting above several nearby towns with a thick cap of ice. Yet beneath the frozen surface, pressure was building, and when the volcano finally erupted in 1985, the consequences devastated entire communities. 

Nevado del Ruiz had erupted only a few times before in history, with one eruption in the 1500s and three eruptions in the early 1800s. Towards the end of 1984, rapid activity began to occur in the region, three earthquakes were recorded a few miles away from the volcano. These earthquakes served as warning signs for increasing volcanic activity in Nevado del Ruiz. In the months that followed, scientists warned Colombian officials that an eruption was very likely. Government officials failed to act on these warnings until it was too late.  

The situation was grave for the residents that lived near the site. The poorly built infrastructure of the buildings, along with its proximity to the volcano made its activation very dangerous for the residents. Nevado del Ruiz, like many other volcanoes, produces lahars, which are activated, fast-moving mudflows that can rapidly descend and cause a destructive mudslide, burying entire towns in mud and debris in minutes. On steep slopes, they travel at around 40 to 50 miles per hour, but can reach up to 120 miles per hour. This would give the residents in the Nevado del Ruiz region nearly no time to react once the mud reached their town. On November 13, 1985, Nevado del Ruiz finally erupted. The first eruption took place at 3pm, with minor pieces of volcanic fallout descending on the towns of Mariquita and Fresno, located north of the volcano. Six hours later, the volcano erupted again, this time with far greater force. The eruption melted large portions of the volcano's ice caps, unleashing massive lahars that rushed down the slopes and into nearby towns. Within hours, entire communities were buried beneath the thick layers of mud, rock, and volcanic debris. The town of Armero was especially vulnerable to the volcano due to its location, as it sat right in-between several local rivers and is a historical site for lahars impacts. 

Tragedy struck. The eruption of Nevado del Ruiz led to the death of more than 25,000 people, making it one of the deadliest volcanic disasters in modern history. Among the victims was Omayra Sánchez, a 13-year-old girl who became a symbol of the catastrophe after she was trapped in the debris for more than 60 hours. During her final hours, she spoke with the journalists and rescuers while awaiting rescue that never arrived. Due to a lack of specialized equipment to remove the debris, she died trapped in the mud and rubble. Images of her death shocked the world, along with the devastation of Armero and the disappearance of over 500 children helped drive major improvements in Colombia’s disaster risk management and preparation frameworks. Today, more than 500 stations help monitor volcanic activity in Colombia, allowing for information sharing amongst other scientists to research and monitor the signs of eruption. In response to the Armero eruption, Francisco González, a survivor of the disaster, created the Armando Armero Foundation that works to reunite lost children separated through DNA testing.

Since the Nevado del Ruiz and Armero event, numerous volcanoes have erupted in the Americas, such as the 1989 Galeras eruption in Colombia, the 2008 Chaitén and 2011 Puyehue-Cordón Caulle eruption in Chile. Volcanic eruptions have primarily impacted agricultural communities, those who make up rural and working-class families in villages closest to the sites. The study of volcanic activity in the modern-day age with the effects of climate change is still underway, as scientists try to understand how warming temperatures and shrinking ice caps may increase the instability of flooding and mudflow systems. The story of Nevado del Ruiz and Armero remains relevant today as a reminder of the consequences of ignoring scientific warnings and failing to communicate emergency risks effectively. At the same time, it demonstrates the importance of strong monitoring systems, disaster preparedness, and international scientific cooperation.