Dozens
Evacuated After Chilean Volcano
Eruption
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Dozens
Evacuated After Chilean Volcano
Eruption
Santiago - At least 71
people were evacuated on Sunday from the
area near Chile's Llaima volcano, which had
a fresh eruption on Saturday, the country's
emergency agency said.
The National Office of Emergencies (Onemi)
alerted on possible mudslides and rise of
the rivers.
"The volcano kept its activity with
explosions, lava flows as well as gases and
ashes emanations during the night. Currently
the ashes are directed towards the east
sector of the volcano," the Onemi said.
The current weather conditions in the area
impede to have a clear vision of the
volcano's situation, so the red alert was
kept, the agency said.
Acting Interior Minister Patricio Rosende
arrived in the region of Araucania Sunday
morning, saying that the government will
give all the needed resources to the
Regional Emergency Committee to face the
situation.
"The aim is to keep permanent control in the
area because the situation of Llaima volcano
is uncertain. We have monitored Calbuco
River and it has considerably increased its
flow."
The 3,125-meter-high volcano, which lies in
the country's lake region about 700 km south
of the capital Santiago, hurled explosive
materials up to 600 meters above the crater
and spewed a flow of lava more than 1,000
meters long.
Llaima, one of the most active in South
America, erupted on Jan. 1, 2008, and has
belched rock and ash sporadically since
then.
Chile has a chain of about 2,000 volcanoes.
Some 50 to 60 are on record as having
erupted, and 500 are potentially active.
The Chaiten volcano, in the Patagonia
region, erupted on May 2008 for the first
time in thousands of years, prompting the
evacuation of thousands of people.
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