Authorities have closed off access to the peak as well as the park around Cotopaxi.
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Government scientists said the 5,987-metre snow-capped volcano did not seem to be on the verge of a major eruption. In the town of Machachi, 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the volcano, people started wearing surgical masks.
Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa gave the order on Saturday to evacuate communities to the south of Cotopaxi Volcano, as the colossus continued to belch columns of ash high into the sky.
Cotopaxi is one of eight active volcanoes in Ecuador.
The National Polytechnic School Geophysics Institute has been observing Cotopaxi since June 25, 2015 due to some unusual activity detected on the volcano.
The move allows the president to immediately mobilize security forces throughout the country and lets the government block publication of information related to Cotopaxi.
The volcano will probably continue to erupt with larger explosions in the short- to mid-term term as magma rises toward the volcanos surface, IGEPN said in a report Friday.
View of an ash cloud from the volcano.
Its last most violent eruption happened back in 1877, though minor eruptions occurred during the 1900s until 2002.
Issuing the warning, authorities said, “We recommend climbers take precautions around the crater, given the possibility of explosions which release rocks or energetic emissions of vapor and volcanic gases that could be harmful”. The volcano is prone to flows of volcanic rock and mud and it sits next to a heavily populated area.
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Several towns and river settlements in Cotopaxi province, some 45 kilometers (28 miles) south of the capital Quito, were cleared, said Pablo Morillo, head of the Secretariat for Risk Management.
