The long-dormant Chaiten volcano blasted ash 20 miles into the Andean sky Tuesday, forcing thousands of people to evacuate and fouling a huge stretch of South America.
The thick column of ash blew eastward for hundreds of miles to the Atlantic Ocean, and schools and a regional airport had to close. Citizens of Chile and Argentina were advised to wear masks to avoid breathing the fallout.
The 5-day-old eruption of the volcano in southern Chile is the first in at least 9,000 years, according to volcanologists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.
Chilean officials ordered the total evacuation of Chaiten, a provincial capital six miles from the roiling cloud. Also emptied was the soot-coated border town Futaleufu, about 75 miles from the volcano.
The gritty, gray-white blizzard covered houses, roads and cattle. People wrapped cloths around their faces and wore surgical masks as they slogged through the mess.
About a half-inch of ash coated the Argentine tourist town Esquel, a Patagonian resort. The airport and schools there have been closed since Saturday.
While volcanologists around the world awaited data on the scope of the eruption, one local expert got a look when he accompanied police and air force teams over the 3,950-foot mountain.
Volcanologist Juan Cayupi said by telephone that Chaiten's two small craters morphed into a large, single crater, and "a large amount of ash, particles, gas" was pouring out.
Lava was rising within the crater but hasn't spilled over yet, said Luis Lara, another volcanologist at the government's Geology and Mining Service.
The few remaining residents of Chaiten were transferred to two navy ships Tuesday. A day earlier, President Michelle Bachelet visited the town and promised financial help for people whose homes were damaged or livestock died after eating ash-covered grass.
No comments:
Post a Comment