QUITO, Ecuador (AP) - President Jamil Mahuad made an aerial inspection of a smoldering volcano's Wednesday, hours after it spewed ash on outlying areas of Quito. Quito has been under an alert since Monday night to guard against an eruption of the Guagua Pichincha volcano. Houses, trees and cars in the capital's southern district were blanketed white with silty ash spit up by the volcano during a brief eruption just before midnight Tuesday. Many city residents in the affected areas walked the streets Wednesday morning with their faces covered by surgical masks and handkerchiefs. Officials have downplayed the danger to Quito in the face of a major eruption. The Pichincha volcano has two smaller cone peaks, Guagua Pichincha and the inactive
Rucu Pichincha.

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