Ecuador began receiving international relief supplies for four central provinces hard hit by the latest eruption of the Tungurahua volcano Thursday, Aug. 17, that killed five people, injured 13 and devastated seven villages.

The Foreign Ministry reported that two relief teams from Spain and the U.S. were arriving in the affected provinces of Cotopaxi, Tungurahua, Bolívar and Chimborazo which together have a population of 1.4 million people.

Peru also announced that an Antonov transport plane from the country's Armed Forces will deliver 5 tons of food and temporary shelters valued at US$31,800 for the victims.

Volcanologists said 8,000 tonnes of incandescent material rained down on villages including Bilbao, Palitahua and Manzano after Thursday's eruption. Hundreds of farm animals were killed and crops destroyed in these areas, and thousands of people were evacuated.

A thick coat of ash covered homes and fields as residents began streaming back to their homes. Some entire families wended their way back in, hefting TV sets, mattresses, clothes and animals that survived. Thousands of people were sweeping and bagging ash in a massive effort to clean up and out from under the ash.

In the village of Bilbao, the church roof caved in and a school was flattened when the volcano spewed its fiery contents.

The Geophysical Institute in Quito reported that the volcano's activity was lower after Thursday's blast but that pressure was building. "We know there will be another eruption, but we cannot say when," said Hugo Yépez, who leads the institute in Quito.

In Baáos, a spa town where tourists bask in thermal waters coming out of the volcano, many of the 18,000 residents were refusing to evacuate, though an emergency was in effect.

The U.S. also has dispatched a team of military doctors to the area. And Spain was sending in breathing masks, water and bags to gather up ash.

Ecuadorian President Alfredo Palacio declared a state of emergency in the four affected provinces before heading to Penipe at the foot of the active Tungurahua volcano, accompanied by several ministers, on Friday.

About 3,200 people were evacuated, and more than 58,000 acres of farmland were destroyed in the latest eruption, said Penipe Mayor Juan Salazar whose town was among the worst hit. Massive ashfalls have also affected rivers and dams in the area.

"Red-hot lava and ash buried five villages, killing five persons," Salazar told AFP by telephone. "Four of the bodies cannot be recovered because they are buried under the debris. Everything was knocked down. In one of the settlements, lava set fire to 12 houses that are still burning."

Tungurahua erupted violently following a 4.4-magnitude earthquake that struck Wednesday southeast of the volcano. Airports announced closures in nearby Riobamba, Latacunga and Guayaquil, Ecuador's most-populous city, due to airborne ash. Unable to fly due to the smoke, the president traveled to Penipe by land, Palacio's office said.

"The situation is indescribable. There are approximately 60 people missing in the highest-risk area as well as seven injured people who were taken to the city of Riobamba and six others injured in Penipe," Salazar told television network Ecuavisa.

The eruption comes little more than a month after the volcano spewed ash and lava on July 14, forcing 1,500 people to leave their homes in the villages of Cusua, Bilbao and Juive Grande. Thursday's eruption is the strongest since 1999, bigger than the one on July 14 that destroyed 50,000 acres of farmland and left 10,000 people homeless.

Sheila Leech, director of HCJB World Radio's Healthcare Division for Latin America, said local authorities have asked the mission to help with emergency supplies such as drinking water and food and medications to treat burns, eye problems and infections.

"We're going to try to get these items and a truck to transport them to the affected area," Leech said. Plans are to send supplies on Wednesday, Aug. 23. She added that Diana Freire, medical director at HCJB World Radio's Hospital Vozandes-Quito, has returned to her hometown of Riobamba to meet with local authorities to see how the mission can help during the tragedy.

Mike Hood, interim director of Hospital Vozandes-Shell, a jungle facility east of Mount Tungurahua, said power to the hospital and the entire region went off at about 1 a.m. Thursday shortly after the volcano erupted.

"We have back-up diesel generators that came on within 15 seconds after the power went off," he said. Electricity to the hospital was restored by about 4 p.m. Thursday, but Hood is concerned that there could be further outages as ash falls and landslides reportedly have put some hydroelectric plants offline.

"We have enough fuel to last throughout an outage of at least two or three days," he added. "One problem is that none of our staff members' houses are connected to the back-up generators, so there is a concern about what will happen to all the [refrigerated and frozen] food if there will be long power outages."

Despite the eruption, Hood said there has been no influx of patients at Hospital Vozandes-Shell, perhaps because the main road between Baáos and Shell has been closed. "I understand that the hospitals in Baáos and area are in emergency status," he said.

Sources: AFP/El Comercio/HCJB World Radio