The eruption of the Volcano Fuego (2018)

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At around noon of Sunday 3rd of June, 2018, the Fuego Volcano, located around 40km away from Guatemala City, started an eruption sending lava flows in the nearby communities.

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“Volcán de Fuego”, whose name means “Volcano of Fire”, expulsed an 8-kilometer stream of red hot lava and spread some black smoke and ashes that rained onto the capital and other regions.

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319 persons have died, but many more are missing as the river of lava overflowed its banks. More than 4’000 people have been evacuated since the eruption, some as they have lost everything due to the lava, other in prevention as the Fuego volcano remains in eruption. Half of them are located in shelters nearby.

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 Hundreds of rescue workers, including firefighters, police and soldiers, worked to help survivors and recover any more bodies amid the still-smoking lava. Firefighters said they had seen some people who were trapped, but roads were cut by pyroclastic flows and they had been unable to reach them.

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Most supermarkets, banks and pharmacies are acting as supply collecting centers to deliver food and water to the evacuated people.

 

For FEDECOCAGUA, although the Dry Mill in Palín has not been affected other than with ashes as in the capital city, one cooperative has been evacuated and 8 have been affected with ashes in their coffee plantations.

 

The evacuated cooperative is called Cooperative Unión Huista; their members are refugees from the Civil War from San Antonio Huista, Huehuetenango. The 82 members fled from San Antonio Huista as they feared for their lives and found shelter in Mexico. Aa at their return their farms were occupied, they bought an estate near Escuintla, far from the Huista area. If their coffee has a very special cup profile thanks to the volcano soil, the proximity of the volcano is dangerous as well. The village is surrounded by two trenches, which carried the lava that stopped 3kms from it.

 

Its coffee has a very special cup profile thanks to the volcano floor, however the proximity of the volcano itself is dangerous. The village of Trinidad is surrounded by two trenches, which after the eruption of 2018 carried the lava that stopped 3 km from the hamlet where live the small producers. Due to the toxic gases and the proximity of the lava, people left their homes, also knowing that their corn and bean plantations had been decimated by ashes.

 

One year after the eruption, the members of the Cooperative La Unión Huista, affiliated to Fedecocagua, still lived in the ATUS shelters in Escuintla.

 

The 2018/2019 harvest of the Cooperative reached 20% of its normal levels while the 2019/2020 harvest reached 50-60% of the normal amount of harvested coffee cherries.

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Fedecocagua projects

carried out by the Foundation UGK in 2018 / 2019

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In 2018 Fedecocagua delivered food to support the people of the Community. In 2019, it has granted funds to recover internal roads in the Community affected by the eruption, as well as a truck to reach the coffee fields and be able to harvest more. In this context it is important to mention that coffee is the only source of income for the Community.