Dormant volcano erupts after 9,000-year gap

AUTHORITIES evacuated hundreds of people from villages in southern Chile on Friday after a snowcapped volcano, dormant for thousands, of years erupted. The blast sent minor earthquakes rippling through the region.

The 3,550-foot Chaiten volcano belched fire and ash on Thursday night, causing more than 60 small tremors in the Los Lagos region, 1,200kms south of the capital, Santiago, the government’s Emergency Bureau said.

Mild seismic activity could continue for the next several days, said bureau director Carmen Fernandez.

Chile’s government declared a state of emergency, evacuating as many as 1,500 people from nearby villages and the town of Chaiten, about 10kms from the volcano.

The amount of ash falling in Chaiten had dropped considerably by Friday afternoon, and the wind was moving it southeast, Emergency Bureau volcanologist Juan Cayupi said.

Ash from the eruption was polluting water supplies and prompting officials to hand out more than 10,000 protective masks, said Interior Minister Edmundo Perez.

Winds also carried ash over the Andes mountains to neighbouring Argentina, where the Education Ministry suspended classes in several towns.

Authorities there declared a state of alert on two highways as falling ash reduced visibility.

The Chaiten volcano has “probably been dormant for about 9,000 or 10,000 years but that’s not unusual,” said Charles Stern, a professor of volcanology at the University of Colorado.

Stern, who has studied Chaiten specifically, said it is still considered “a potentially active volcano”.

Chaiten last had “an explosive eruption that generated a very big ash cloud,” he added. “I would really worry about the village of Chaiten. I think they would want to get everybody out of there really soon,” he said.

In southern Peru, the Ubinas volcano shot out gases and ash twice on Friday, covering local homes and crops.

The eruptions shot ash up to 500 metres into the air, said an official from the town of Ubinas.