Qualla: 2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: Introduction

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Seismologists detected the warning signs eight hours before the worst of it. By the time mandatory evacuations were ordered, pyroclastic flows had already reached San Miguel Los Lotes. The village of roughly 3,000 people sat just kilometers from one of the most active volcanoes in the world -- a stratovolcano that had erupted more than sixty times since 1524. On June 3, 2018, Volcan de Fuego, the "Volcano of Fire," lived up to its name with devastating precision, sending superheated clouds of gas and rock racing down the Las Lajas ravine at speeds that left no time for escape.

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: A Mountain That Never Sleeps

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Volcan de Fuego stands 44 kilometers from Guatemala City, its peak visible to more than a million people who live within 30 kilometers of its summit. The volcano had been in a continuous eruptive phase since 1999, producing eruptions large enough to prompt evacuations -- includin...

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: The Hours That Mattered

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Fuego's explosive activity began intensifying around 6:00 a.m. on that Sunday morning. Through the morning hours, the eruption built in force, sending an ash column more than 15 kilometers into the sky. Pyroclastic flows -- superheated avalanches of gas, ash, and rock that can re...

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: The Human Cost

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At least 190 people were killed. Fifty-seven were injured. As of late July 2018, 256 people remained missing -- among them children, a CONRED disaster agency officer, firefighters, and a police officer. Local residents estimated that approximately 2,000 people lay buried beneath ...

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: Warnings Unheeded

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

In the aftermath, questions about the disaster response became unavoidable. Opposition politician Mario Taracena accused CONRED's executive secretary of mismanaging the warnings. Lawmakers told reporters that seismologists had flagged the eruption's approach eight hours before th...

2018 Volcan de Fuego Eruption: What Remains

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Fuego did not stop after June 3. A second eruption on June 5 prompted additional evacuations. On June 8, new flows forced residents of El Rodeo, who had just returned home, to flee again. Lahars on June 9 triggered preventive evacuations in Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa. The volcano ...