The Nevado del Ruiz volcano is located just 80 miles from the Colombian capitol of Bogota. It’s an active volcano, every so often spewing mud and lava in amounts large enough to bury a small city. The residents of one nearby town found that out the hard way.
On this day November 13th, in 1985, the Nevado Del Ruiz erupted. There was no evacuation order given, even though numerous geologists and volcano experts warned the Colombian government about the volcano’s activity in September of that year.
The Nevado del Ruiz was in Tolimo – specifically it was right next to Armero. Of the 31,000 people that lived there at the time, 8,000 survived the incident. The volcano is said to have been active for about 2 million years and still poses a threat to the half million currently living in its vicinity. The summit is covered in glaciers, though many of them have retreated and melted due to the atmosphere. The volcano is in the famous volcano region, the Pacific Ring of Fire.