‘We’re not afraid’: Life goes on for Indigenous Colombians despite volcano eruption risk

By Astrid Suárez PURACE, Colombia (AP) — Oliverio Quira often goes to check on his cattle on a plot of land he owns less than a mile from the Purace volcano in southwestern Colombia. There he sits and watches the billowing ash column rising from the crater. Despite a recent alert indicating that an eruption is likely in the coming days or weeks due to increased seismic activity at the volcano and the emission of ash columns reaching up to 900 meters (nearly 3,000 feet), he is not afraid. “I’ve lived on the volcano, I grew up there … so I have no reason to fear it. I’ll keep going there, alert or not. I have to look after my animals,” Quira, 65, told The Associated Press. He is a…

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