Costa Rica: The Ash-Covered Capital

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On a clear day, people in Costa Rica's capital of San José used to enjoy the view of the dormant, 11,260-ft. volcano Irazú, 16 miles to the northeast. But dormant volcanoes, like "unloaded" guns, can be full of nasty surprises. Last March a violent explosion deep inside Irazú threw up a shower of rocks, some weighing as much as two tons. A dark cloud of gritty ash spread across the sky, and soon drifted down to cover the pretty little Central American city with a layer of what looked like dirty snow.

For ten months now, San José has known few clear days as eruption after eruption dropped an estimated 50,000 tons of ash on the city. Grit covers floors, seeps through windows and gets into food at mealtime. When they go outside, San José's 230,000 citizens wear goggles, gas masks, pull handkerchiefs over their faces like Hollywood bandits, even cover their heads with paper bags.

Those who can afford it send their children to school out of the country.

Auto carburetors clog, typewriters stick and doors jam; airplanes no longer land at the local airport. Slowly the city's drainage system is plugging up—and so much ash has settled in the Reventado River that a recent rainstorm sent waters spilling over the banks, destroying some 500 homes in the city of Cartago.

Irazú's eruption is "dry," containing no molten lava. But the acrid, ashy smog has caused added suffering among those with respiratory ailments. The fallout extends over 250 square miles, including 97,000 acres of pasture for some of the prize dairy herds of Central America. Grazing land was smothered. Thousands of sick cattle had to be killed, and milk production has dropped to 35% of normal.

The Costa Rican government appealed for aid, and the U.S. rushed in an initial 4,000 tons of cattle feed, plus 500 respirators for street cleaners. Costa Rican businessmen raised an emergency fund and bought three U.S. road-sweeping machines. But last week Irazú continued its eruptions, and San José could not sweep away the ash fast enough.