IN ERUPTION

Hokitika Guardian, 25 January 1932, Page 5

IN ERUPTION

VOLCANOES AT GUATEMALA.

TOWNS REPORTED DESTROYED.

(United Press Association.—By Electric

Telegraph.—Copy rigfi t.;

'Received this day at 9.25 a.m) NEW YORK, January 24. A message from San Salvador states: The Guatemalan volcano, Mount Agua, has erupted sharp detonations, which are heard here. The populace here rushed into the streets. They were praying and carrying images. Superstitious people are particularly terrified, due to the tact that January 21st commemorates the centenary of the famous eruption of Cosaguina, Nicaragua.

Santa Ana city is reported to be covered in ashes to a depth of five hundred quintals to the acre. Antiguans are wading knee deep in "ashes. There is a heavy fall of ashes close to the volcanoes, where the ashes are one metre deep in some sections, destroying all the coffee and other crops. The earth is also said to be badly cracked in the affected area. A message from Guatemala City states: “Disrupted communications prevent the reception of detailed information, but it is feared that great damage has been done by a sudden eruption, thirty miles from here, of two volvnnoes, Mt. Fuego and Mt, Abatenango, The towns of Antigua, Santa. Luigia and Cotzumalhuara, a,s well ga several smaller communities, are reported to have been destroyed.

“The entire Republic of Guatemala

has been terrified by a series of earthquakes, ten of which were violent ones They were centred in the vicinity of Zacatepewuez. These quakes were folloewd by approximately fifty further shocks.

“Dense clouds of smoke, filled with fiery streaks of ashes, shot from the two volcanoes and were carried in the wind as far as Salvador. The streets and rooftops in San Salvador City are covered with ashes. “The shocks have now anprenily erased, hue the ciitzen ar-- still much alarmed.”