QUITO, July 11, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - A volcano in central Ecuador spewed a cloud of ash Wednesday that fell on four towns as residents reported hearing rumblings and loud bangs.

The Sangay volcano, some 195 kilometers (120 miles) from the capital Quito, has been in a state of near-constant, mainly low-level activity since 1628, according to the Geophysical Institute.

In 2021, ashfall from the 5,230-meter (some 17,300-foot) volcano destroyed about 43,000 hectares (over 160,000 acres) of crops, affecting 330,000 people, according to Ecuador's SNGR risk management service.

On Wednesday, it reported light ash falls on the localities of Guamote and Cumanda in the central Chimborazo province.

There was also a dusting on Naranjito and Milagro in the southwestern Guayas province, some 200 km from the volcano, and images on social media showed farmers washing their crops.

The agency said loud bangs were heard in five provinces around the volcano and as far away as Quito, as the 3-km-high ash cloud moved in a westward direction.

Ecuador sits in a zone of high seismic activity, with about 100 volcanoes along its slice of the Andes mountain range.

In 2016, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake killed 673 people and devastated a long stretch of the South American country's coast.