MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano is continuing
to spout gases and hot rock fragments and it is dusting towns on
its flanks with volcanic ash. But unlike recent days, the ash
has not spread to neighboring cities. Civil defense radio
dispatcher Dulce Maria Casquera says the volcano alert level
remains high, but no evacuations are planned at present.
Casquera says that apart from the ash, the 17,886-foot volcano
has been relatively calm. However, the National Disaster
Prevention Center says in a report Wednesday that that some
glowing rock fragments rolled about a quarter mile (half
kilometer) down the slopes. Authorities this week raised the
alert level due to increasing activity at the peak southeast of
Mexico City. Its most violent eruption in 1,200 years occurred
on Dec. 18, 2000. (COPYRIGHT 2012 BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED.)