The Colombian Air Force, through the National Personnel Recovery Center- CENRP and in coordination with the National Unit for Disaster Risk Management- UNGRD, is constantly preparing its air resources due to the orange alert of the Nevado del Ruiz Volcano.
The Air Combat Commands 1, 4 and 5 in Puerto Salgar- Cundinamarca, Melgar-Tolima, Rionegro-Antioquia and the Military Transport Air Command- CATAM in Bogotá, are the Military Air Units of the Colombian air force in maximum preparation, for the direct assistance in the frame of the response plan established by the Institution to face the emergency.
With search and rescue resources, air and ground rescue, mass evacuation and air medical transfer, firefighting with water bucket system, transportation of personnel and humanitarian aid, satellite intelligence operations and reconnaissance of possible hit areas, the Colombian Air Force continues to deal with the seismic activity of the volcano.
In the same way, in the event of an emergency, the Air Force is responsible for the command and control of the airspace together with Civil Aeronautics and carries out air transport operations for members of the different institutions that are part of the emergency response plan.
Currently, the Institution carries out a monitoring, reconnaissance and observation of the volcano through CATAM C-90 type surveillance aircraft and the taking of images of the colombian air force Satellite Ground Station, which leads the institutions to analyze the behavior of the volcano.
Source: Press - Colombian Air Force
