MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Volcanic ash sickens hundreds in Peru

The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency during the week end in southern towns that have been showered by ash from the Ubinas volcano and asked the military to help evacuate poor farming families from the area.

Ubinas, which had been inactive for almost 40 years, has been spitting out ash, smoke and toxic gases for most of the month, alarming thousands of people living in nearby rural areas, killing livestock and polluting water sources.

The government recommended evacuation early in the week, but it was not until Friday that dozens of people began reluctantly to leave farming towns in the area covered in a thick carpet of ash.

At least 1 000 people have suffered respiratory problems from a tower of ash spewing from the Ubinas volcano in southern Peru, and 20 llamas have died after eating poisoned grass, a local official said in a new release.

Querapi is an impoverished, telephone-less hamlet 2.5 miles from the volcano, which is in the Moquegua department 550 miles south of Lima.

Evacuees arrived on Saturday and Sunday in Arequipa, the city closest to Querapi -- a rough six-hour bus ride. Others have refused to leave because they want to stay to protect their livestock, crops, and belongings, or because they have no transport out of the area.

Some of those who have abandoned their homes sold their cattle at whatever price they could get, as little as $30 a head.

The 18,700-feet high Ubinas has erupted 23 times since 1550 and is considered one of Peru's most active volcanoes.

The ministers of health and agriculture and the head of the National Civil Defense Institute were scheduled to head a delegation to Ubinas on Sunday to deliver food, tents, masks and veterinary medication for animals that have been harmed from breathing toxic gas.