81 years ago in the village of San Juan Parangaricutiroa resident noticed smoke coming out of the floora situation that seemed curious to them, since they never imagined that above their feet the imposing Paricutín volcano, the “Pompeii” was rising. Mexican”.
On February 20, 1943, the lives of the inhabitants of San Juan Parangaricutiro changed from one moment to the next, when the Paricutín volcano erupted and forced them to migrate from their town.
Dionisio Pulido, landowner in the town, was the one who noticed that smoke and gas began to come out of the ground, the emergence was almost spontaneous, as soon after a series of fumaroles and pyroclastic explosions with volcanic bombs began, until midnight the violent eruptions And from the first hours of the second day, lava began to flow. In just three days after it emerged, it had already doubled in size, and in just over a year, it had reached 424 metres.
He Mexican Government website He explains that the birth began on February 20, 1943, however, it began its formation since 1942, specifically in the northern part of the base of the peak of Tancítaroin the volcanic axis from Michoacan.
It is worth mentioning that the lava flows They covered up to 18.5 km2, reaching 424 meters of difference in altitude in relation to the Quitzocho-Cuiyusuru Valley. Which left spectacular images of San Juan Parangaricutiro, since a large part of the territory it covered was under lava.
Activity continued with bomb explosions and pyroclastic deposits until 1949 with a period of inactivity that was interrupted by a intense reactivation which lasted until March 1952, when it suddenly ceased its activity.
Today it is a major tourist attraction that attracts national and foreign tourists, not to mention the interest of the scientific community in the Paritcutín volcano.
What happened to San Juan Parangaricutiro?
The inhabitants were forced to create Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro, 30 km from its original location, the community resettled in the place previously known as “La Hacienda de los Conejos”.
Over the years, the Indigenous Community of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro has established itself as a benchmark for community forest management in Mexico and around the world. This situation is possible due to the use of timber forests, ecotourism, biodiversity conservation and its organizational model.
In 1984 they even received the National Forestry Merit Award for their great community organization, which consolidated a project for the rational use of their forests.
This is the communal organizational chart of Nuevo San Juan Parangaricutiro:
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General Assembly of Communards, in which around 1,254 Communards participate and is the highest decision-making body
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Board of directors, made up of the ejidal commissioner and the surveillance council
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Communal council, shares experiences and knowledge, since many of these people were members of the general assembly or part of the management and have been participating for more than 20 or 30 years.
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Management of each of the companies established in the community
Today, the community continues to prosper with 20,000 inhabitants, which has 11 community businesses that generate more than a thousand jobs a year. This is thanks to the fact that they have a sawmill, a furniture factory, resin factories, a water bottling plant, blueberry greenhouses, plantations, and ecotourism businesses.