MEXICO CITY
(AP)--Authorities gave tens of thousands of people permission
to return to their homes near Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano on
Tuesday but warned them to remain on alert.
That spelled
the end of an evacuation that began Dec. 15, when scientists detected
alarming tremors beneath the 17,886-foot mountain about 40 miles
southeast of Mexico City.
On Dec. 18,
Popocatepetl produced its most violent eruption in 1,200 years,
though it caused no injuries.
After a relatively
quiet week, the volcano spewed ash and hurled fragments of red-hot
rock as far as a half-mile from the crater early Tuesday. Scientists
said such eruptions could continue over the coming weeks as the
volcano destroys a dome of lava in its crater, according to the
Interior Secretariat.
But officials
said in a government bulletin that there has been a ``notable
reduction in the probability'' of a larger eruption, so they lifted
the evacuation order on some 40,000 people living in about two
dozen towns and villages.
Residents
are still barred from coming within six miles of the crater, and
residents of two towns closest to the volcano must have their
houses inspected for damage from accumulated ash on rooftops.
The bulletin
said scientists believe the volcano is still capable of hurling
hot rocks some three miles and cooler rocks about six miles. The
volcano could cause showers of ash hundreds of miles away, it
said.
It was the
second time in six years that the volcano had forced some residents
to spend Christmas away from their homes.
The last evacuation
occurred in December 1994, shortly after the volcano awoke after
nearly 70 years of inactivity.
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