Peru declares emergency in towns near volcano

LIMA, Peru, Apr 23 (Reuters) The Peruvian government declared a state of emergency yesterday in southern towns that have been showered by ash from the Ubinas volcano and asked the military to help evacuate poor farming families from the area.

Ubinas, which had been inactive for almost 40 years, has been spitting out ash, smoke and toxic gases for most of the month, alarming thousands of people living in nearby rural areas, killing livestock and polluting water sources.

The government recommended evacuation early in the week, but it was not until Friday that dozens of people began reluctantly to leave farming towns in the area covered in a thick carpet of ash.

''The head of state asked for the armed forces to help evacuate 42 families from the town of Querapi, in the Ubinas district, the town nearest the volcano,'' the government said in a news release.

Querapi is an impoverished, telephone-less hamlet 2.5 miles from the volcano, which is in the Moquegua department 550 miles south of Lima.

Evacuees arrived on Friday and yesterday in Arequipa, the city closest to Querapi -- a rough six-hour bus ride. Others have refused to leave because they want to stay to protect their livestock, crops, and belongings, or because they have no transport out of the area.

Some of those who have abandoned their homes sold their cattle at whatever price they could get, as little as 30 dollar a head.

The 18,700-feet high Ubinas has erupted 23 times since 1550 and is considered one of Peru's most active volcanoes.

The ministers of health and agriculture and the head of the National Civil Defense Institute were scheduled to head a delegation to Ubinas today to deliver food, tents, masks and veterinary medication for animals that have been harmed from breathing toxic gas.

REUTERS OM RAI0705