May 27, 2010 Eruption of Pacaya

Name: May 27, 2010 Eruption of Pacaya
Start: 2010-05-27
Location: Pacaya, Guatemala

May 27, 2010 · VEI 3 · 1 death · 3 houses destroyed

Pacaya in Guatemala erupted on May 27, 2010 with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 3. The eruption killed 1 person.

Where it erupted

Pacaya, Guatemala, with its other significant eruptions.

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The eruption

Date: May 27, 2010
Volcano: Pacaya, complex volcano
Country: Guatemala
Volcanic Explosivity Index: 3, moderate to large (eruption column 3 to 15 km)
Killed by: Tephra (ash, bombs, lapilli, steam blasts)
Location: 14.382° N, 90.601° W

The toll

Deaths: 1
Missing: 3
Damage: Limited (under about $1 million)
Houses destroyed: 3

Where the literature gives no number, NCEI records a description on a scale of 1 to 4, printed here in its words. Damage is in millions of US dollars of the year of the event, not adjusted for inflation.

What the record says

NCEI’s account, from the sources it cites.

Guatemala's Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks Thursday afternoon, blanketing the country's capital with ash and forcing the closure of the international airport. A television reporter was killed by a shower of burning rocks when he got too close to the volcano, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Guatemala City. (reference #9674)

Weekly Report 26 May-1 June 2010: INSIVUMEH reported a continuing series of explosions 5-10 seconds apart that ejected black ash up to 1 km above the crater on 28 May... CONRED reported a short time later that about 1,600 people had been evacuated from six towns 3-4 km W, NNW, N, and NNE, and that Aurora International Airport was closed. According to a map posted by CONRED, blocks fell in areas as far away as 12 km NE and ash was reported in areas E of Chinautla, 37 km NNE. News media reported that one person (a reporter) died and three children were missing. On 29 May, a 90-m-wide lava flow that traveled SSE at an estimated rate of 100 m per hour burned three houses on the Pacaya Grande ranch... (reference #2432)

Other significant eruptions of Pacaya

Every eruption in 2010 The 2000s Pacaya Earthquakes near Pacaya This day in weather history

Sources

Volcanoes and significant eruptions from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Hazard Database, cited as NCEI/WDS, doi:10.7289/V5PN93H7. Public domain. Read 2026-09-24. Volcano numbers are the Smithsonian Institution’s Global Volcanism Program’s. NCEI event 5164.