Oliverio Quira often goes to check on his cattle on a plot of land he owns less than a mile from the Purace volcano in southwestern Colombia.

There he sits and watches the billowing ash column rising from the crater.

Despite a recent alert indicating that an eruption is likely in the coming days or weeks due to increased seismic activity at the volcano and the emission of ash columns reaching up to 900 meters (nearly 3,000 feet), he is not afraid.

“I am 100% confident that the lava will not fall on us here because I see that everything on this side is favorable for us, because the crater is going in another direction, and the lava is going in another direction,” Quira, 65, told The Associated Press.

He is a member of the Purace Indigenous Reserve, a territory belonging to the Coconuco Indigenous people who have traditionally inhabited the volcano’s surroundings.

Still, since the alert issued on November 29, the surrounding community has been on edge.

Authorities have sought to prepare for a preventive evacuation of at least 800 people who live on the volcano’s periphery, in scattered homes among the mountains.

The Purace volcano, standing 4,640 meters (more than 15,000 feet) above sea level, is one of Colombia’s active volcanoes, with at least 51 eruptive events since the year 1400.

Its most recent significant eruption was recorded in 1977, according to the Colombian Geological Service.

For the Coconuco people, the volcano is sacred and a protective spirit of their territory.

"One thing we can say is that it (the volcano) is our patron. We have no reason to fear it because we live and spend all our time within its territory," said Alfredo Manquillo, deputy governor of the Purace Indigenous Reserve.

For the Indigenous community, the volcano sends them a message when it emits ash, asking for greater care towards nature.

Purace lacks the infrastructure and logistics needed for a full evacuation, so authorities are working to set up temporary shelters, according to Mayor Humberto Molano Hoyos.

AP video shot by: Marko Alvarez