World News
Evacuation Ordered as Chilean Volcano Begins to Spew Ash
The Chaitén volcano in southern Chile blasted ash and what appeared tobe lava a dozen miles into the air on Tuesday, leading the governmentto order the immediate and complete evacuation of everyone livingwithin a 30-mile radius of it.
Preceded by dozens of tremors, the volcano — until now considered inactive — began erupting last Friday. It covered about 60 square miles with more than 15 inches of ash, rendering the air unbreathable, contaminating water sources, killing livestock and destroying all small- and medium-scale agriculture in this rural and mostly impoverished area 800 miles south of the capital, Santiago.
An enormous gray mushroom cloud of ash that could be seen from 100 miles away has since loomed over this sliver of land next to Argentina, where continental Chile breaks up into archipelagos. East winds have spread ash toward Argentina. The thick layer of volcanic ash, coupled with rain, has made access to the sparsely populated border zone difficult.
Source: nytimes.com
About 8,000 residents of nearby towns have been evacuated since theweekend. There have been no deaths or injuries reported, although a92-year-old woman died of a heart attack as she was evacuated fromChaitén on Sunday.
After flying over the area on Tuesday morning,specialists from the National Geology and Mining Service said that theyhad found no evidence of lava flowing from the volcano, although theywere able to see lava at the base of the large crater. This is thefirst time the Chaitén volcano has erupted in at least 2,000 years,according to service officials.
Since the weekend, themilitary, navy and police have helped ship out several thousandresidents from Chaitén, situated only six miles away from the base ofthe volcano and near the Chaitén Bay. About 20 families are stillrefusing to leave their homes, animals and belongings in spite of thepresidential order, which makes no exceptions for military, police orjournalists.
On Tuesday, hundreds of residents in Futaleufú,just miles from the border, were being evacuated voluntarily by bus,crossing over to Argentina for part of the journey.
Source: nytimes.com
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Comments (12)
I think this is an important story and would benefit from other NowPublic contributors working on it. I've flagged it as News Wanted and invite others in relevant locations to look for more evidence.
stvalentine, thanks for posting this. Good stuff.
The cloud of ashes of the volcano Chaitén is visible from Puerto Montt, city located more than 200 kilometres to the north.
Everas has contributed a photo to this story.
FROM EL FIN DEL MUNDO CHILE PATRICIO JOSE TRUJILLO MANRIQUEZ SIGUE ERUPCION DEL VOLCAN CHAITEN CHILE RUGIDOS DE FUEGO
1 - CHAITEN EVACUADO.
2- DIAMETROS 800 METROS EL CRATER EXTENSION ELIPTICA
3- LAS CENIZAS DEL VOLCAN , LLEGAN A LOS RIOS , LAGOS Y AL MAR DE CHILE
.4- COLOR DE LAS AGUAS TURQUEZAS, Y TODO SE VE GRIS EL DAÑO AMBIENTAL ES ENORME EN EL SUR DE CHILE.
5- AIRE - OLOR AZUFRE
6- GANADERIA Y AGRICULTURA AFECTADA , PREOCUPACION POR LOS ANIMALES , SERAN TRASLADADOS A OSORNO- CHILE .
7- LA DIRECCION DE LAS CENIZAS VOLCANICAS A BARILOCHE ARGENTINA.
8-NO HAY PLAZO CUANDO TERMINE LA ERUPCION , NO SE SABE LO QUE VA PASAR ,.
9- TODOS LOS CHILENOS PREOCUPADOS PR EL VOLCAN CHAITEN , DESASTRE EN EL SUR DE CHILE.
10-A MI JUICIO , PUEDE REPERCUTIR LO QUE PASA EN EL VOLCAN EN CHILE , PUEDE HABER UN TERREMOTO EN CHILE.
Realmente esta situacion tiene volcada la atención de todos acá en Puerto Montt, ciudad que se encuentra a aproximadamente 100 kilometro de Chaitén. La ciudad completa se ha movilizado para ir en ayuda de esta gente que se encuentran actualmente en 3 albergues. Lo que preocupa en este instante son los animales que quedaron en Chaitén. Poco a poco los están sacando para buscarles un mejor lugar donde estar y nos se sigan muriendo por la ingesta de ceniza
NaTiDReaDLoCKs has contributed a photo to this story.
Ruben Silva
http://www.flickr.com/photos/islachiloe/
islachiloe has contributed a photo to this story.
It was really amazing... I saw all the earth's power in that volcano. Now Chaiten is like a ghost town. The people need all kind of help.
(Sorry, but I'm not very well in english!)
Juan Vallejos has contributed a photo to this story.
Amazing photos everyone
La ceniza comenzó a caer durante la noche despues de la erupción del volcán Chaitén. Se acumuló y cubrió todo con una capa de unos milimetros de espesor
AleNYCenEsquel has contributed a photo to this story.
Franco Rosini has contributed a photo to this story.
Cuando la tierra ronca, Ronca!!
PATAGÓN has contributed a photo to this story.
It is very sad what is happening in Chaiten people are leaving behind years of effort and work.
Arttemisa
arte has contributed a photo to this story.