Thousands of people were evacuate and airports were closed for two eruptions of volcanoes in Guatemala and Ecuador Friday, choking towns with ash, leaving two dead, officials said.
Guatemala President Alvaro Colom announced a 15-day state of emergency around the Pacaya volcano, 50 km (31 miles) south of the capital.
Volcano broke again Friday after the first burst back to life Wednesday, killing two people, including a television reporter covering the event.
In Ecuador, Tungurahua volcano exploded in action Friday and forced the evacuation of at least seven villages and close to the airport and public schools in Guayaquil, the country's largest and most populous city.
Since 2552 meters (8372 feet) Pacaya volcano erupted again on Friday, rolling clouds of ash and dust, "said Colom to La Aurora International Airport in Guatemala City, would remain closed until Saturday," because we have to clean the runways and surrounding areas "of ash.
The airport was closed reminiscent of the massive blanket of ash Islands Eyjafjoell volcano spewed out last month caused the biggest antenna shutdown in Europe since World War II, affecting more than 100,000 flights and eight million passengers.
President Colom said the eruption of Pacaya since Wednesday had killed two people, injured 59, left the three children are missing and destroyed 100 homes.
Emergency Management Coordinator said between 1700-1900 people have been evacuated from their homes to nearby homes in three departments affected by the crisis decree.
Ministry of Education has suspended classes in the emergency area.
On Friday, the volcano was shaken by constant explosions and vomited bright-colored feathers in the air.
Guatemala City was covered by a blanket of ash and dust that people evacuated from the danger zone, walked in the streets darkened by ash and the city's two million residents tried to cope with disaster.
The head of the national seismological institute warned more cases could happen "in the coming days" on the most active volcano in Central America.
The Pacaya volcano has been active for 49 years and has experienced six major outbreaks.
The head of the national seismological institute Eddy Sanchez said that the volcano had collected a lot of energy over several years. "Like a pressure cooker, it will release the pressure dramatically," he told journalists.
He warned that the lava would continue to spew out a great height.
The charred corpse of TV journalist Anibal Archila was found near the volcano by a colleague who said that the victim could not escape the rain stones and other projectiles thrown out when the volcano exploded late Thursday.
"We have decided to stay a minute longer to take more pictures. Suddenly we heard the rumors and stones began to fall around, so we had to run," one driver for one of the journalists covering the scene with Archila told nuestro Diario newspaper.
The second outbreak of deaths was a 22-year-old man who fell to his death when he cleaned ash from the roof of a school.
Colom promised government action to clean up the mess gray.
"People must feel confident that the state is responding," he said when he announced he would travel to the most affected municipalities to work with the emergency committee.
Within a 100-kilometer (62 mil) radius of the volcano, armed with brooms and local boards scrambled to remove sand and ash from roofs and courtyards of their homes.
"We've only washed the backyard now, and we've already filled a large garbage bag," Isabel Estevez said. She and her husband began to clean up sediment dumped by the volcano, up to five centimeters (two inches) thick in some places.
In Ecuador, meanwhile Tungurahua volcano had its biggest eruption on Friday, spewing columns of ash and rock asks evacuation of at least seven surrounding villages.
"Certain measures are taken including the closure of the Guayaquil airport until further notice and the suspension of classes in Guayas province, as we make a new assessment" of the situation, "said Yuri De Janon, Regional Coordinator for risk management.
He said the ash fallout from the volcano was affecting Guayaquil and four other cities in Guayas.
Hugo Yepes, director of Ecuador's Geophysical Institute, noted that the volcano was at a time, spewing molten rock and huge clouds of ash and gas 10 km (33,000 feet) in heaven. But he said the volcanic activity has decreased since.
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