CHILE - Volcan Chaiten erupts - 1500 people being evacuated

[FrenchieGirl]

Translated from French via Google http://fr.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080502/tsc-chili-volcan-lead-c2ff8aa.html

The Chilean volcano erupts between Chaiten, 1,500 evacuees

The volcano Chaiten, about 1,300 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile, entered Friday erupts, forcing authorities to trigger red alert and evacuate some 1,500 people from the region, covered with a cloud of ash that reached Argentina. Chaiten The volcano, about 1,300 kilometers south of Santiago, Chile, entered Friday erupts, forcing authorities to trigger red alert and evacuate some 1,500 people in the region, covered with a cloud of ash that reached Argentina.

The Chaiten volcano, which rises to 1,000 metres, is located 10 km from the city of the same name, populated by 7,000 people.

So far, "there have been no injuries or material damage," said the National Emergency Office (Onemi).

The authorities have decided the immediate evacuation of 900 to 1,500 people might be bothered by the smoke and the closure of schools.

"Given that this massive east near the town of Chaiten, it was decided to move as a preventive measure 900 to 1,500 people," giving priority to elderly and pregnant or nursing women, reported in the Onemi release.

These people will be evacuated by sea to neighbouring towns of Puerton Montt and Quellon aboard three boats of the navy.

Some 9,000 gas masks and drinking water will be channeled to Chaiten, local authorities have decided to cut off water as a precaution.

The authorities had announced in a first time that the volcano had entered Michimahuida erupted before correct to indicate that this was one of Chaiten.

The thick cloud of ash escaping the volcano, which has reached locations in the Argentine side of the Cordillera, did not allow overflights of the zone, "said Minister to explain the error identification volcano .

Three volcanoes are a very short distance from each other in the region of Chaiten, access difficult.

The Chilean President Michelle Bachelet assured his side that all measures be taken to address this situation.

The eruption was preceded by a sixty average intensity of tremors that were felt since Wednesday.

-----There's a good picture on the article, but I don't seem to be able to post it.

 

[AlaskaDenise]

Re: CHILE - Volcan Chaiten erupts - 1500 people being evacuated

May 7, 2008

<NYT_HEADLINE version="1.0" type=" ">Evacuation Ordered as Chilean Volcano Begins to Spew Ash </NYT_HEADLINE>

<NYT_BYLINE version="1.0" type=" ">By PASCALE BONNEFOY

</NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>SANTIAGO, Chile — The Chaitén volcano in southern Chile blasted ash and what appeared to be lava a dozen miles into the air on Tuesday, leading the government to order the immediate and complete evacuation of everyone living within 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.

President Michelle Bachelet visited the area on Monday, announcing subsidies and other aid for affected families. On Tuesday, she convened an emergency committee of government ministers, emergency agency representatives, the director of the police force and regional officials.

The committee resolved to order the total evacuation of Chaitén, to authorize the release of emergency funds and to appoint Defense Minister José Goñi to coordinate the response to the natural disaster.

“The situation is rather complicated,” said Interior Minister Edmundo Pérez. “The volcano continues erupting, and we don’t know how long this will last. It could be a day, a week or more.”

About 8,000 residents of nearby towns have been evacuated since the weekend. There have been no deaths or injuries reported, although a 92-year-old woman died of a heart attack as she was evacuated from Chaitén on Sunday.

After flying over the area on Tuesday morning, specialists from the National Geology and Mining Service said that they had found no evidence of lava flowing from the volcano, although they were able to see lava at the base of the large crater. This is the first time the Chaitén volcano has erupted in at least 2,000 years, according to service officials.

Since the weekend, the military, navy and police have helped ship out several thousand residents from Chaitén, situated only six miles away from the base of the volcano and near the Chaitén Bay. About 20 families are still refusing to leave their homes, animals and belongings in spite of the presidential order, which makes no exceptions for military, police or journalists.

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.

About 25,000 head of cattle and sheep are at imminent risk of dying, eating plants and drinking water contaminated by volcanic ash. The navy has shipped feed, and the government is beginning to evacuate some cattle from the area, but many are expected to die. Some civil engineers said they believed that the soil and plant life in the area may not recover for several decades, if at all.

“The soil in the area covered by this volume of ash deposits will be practically lost,” said Wilfredo Vera, engineer from the University of Chile. He told a Chilean radio station that “agricultural production will be virtually nil.”



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