Authorities in southern Peru handed out masks and protective glasses on Monday after a pickup in activity at the Ubinas Volcano, near Arequipa.
Civil Defense provided the safety equipment to residents in Querapi and Ubinas, in the province of General Sanchez Cerro, to protect them against ash from the volcano, daily El Comercio reported.
By 3p.m. on Monday, scientists had registered 335 seismic events associated with the volcano and by 4:16 p.m. on Monday there were five low-intensity explosions that spewed some gases and ash from the volcano.
Last year, the government declared a temporary state of emergency in nine districts after it began spewing ash, in order to protect local residents.
Vulcanologists who are monitoring the volcano have said in the past that the real danger is from ash, which affects animals and people since it permeates the pasturelands and water.
This week, specialists at the Peruvian Geophysical Institute, IGP, said there is an increase in magma or molten rock in the crater of the volcano but that there is no danger of a sudden eruption.
The lava from this type of volcano is viscous and moves very slowly, cooling and hardening quickly.
The Ubinas volcano is located in the Moquegua region, and about 70 kilometers from the city of Arequipa.
