 The three small towns of Paicol, La Plata and Belalcázar along the Páez River were affected by this eruption.Extensive instrumentation of the volcano, put in place by the existing national system for prevention and care of disasters, which includes training of local inhabitants in high-risk regions and deployment of alarms in nearby towns, reportedly prevented large-scale deaths.President Álvaro Uribe ordered the Air Force of Colombia to create an "air bridge" to provide supplies for cut off towns along the Páez River.