Massive volcanic cloud creeps over Argentina, Chile
Pastor Dale Morgan
Massive volcanic cloud creeps over Argentina, Chile*
CHAITEN, Chile, May 7 (AFP) May 08, 2008
A thick cloud of ash from the erupting Chaiten volcano in southern Chile
spread across a swathe of South America Wednesday, prompting fears of
health crisis for the people caught in its wake.
The enormous slow-moving plume was expected to soon reach Buenos Aires,
where about eight million people live in the Argentine capital and its
surroundings, spreading airborne ash particles which health officials
warned could be highly dangerous to inhale.
Thousands of Chileans have already fled their homes after the volcano,
located 1,300 kilometers (800 miles) south of Santiago near Chile's
border with Argentina, erupted violently Tuesday, spewing ash and lava
over its surroundings.
"Everything depends on which way the wind blows in the next few hours,"
said a spokesman for Argentina's meteorological service.
He said forecasters were fairly certain that the skies of more Argentine
towns would be darkened by the volcano's after-effects, adding: "We
don't see any prospect of a change in the weather."
Chile's National Emergency Office said the area around a 30-kilometer
radius of the volcano had been completely evacuated.
The 4,000 residents of Chaiten, the town nearest to the volcano whose
streets were covered by a thick layer of ash, were evacuated Tuesday.
Only a handful of emergency personnel and news reporters remained.
Many of the town's businesses relocated to the city of Puerto Montt,
some 200 kilometers to the south, and residents also took shelter there.
"I didn't want to leave, but there was too much noise, and ash fell all
day long," said Rosa Mayorga, 62.
Another 1,000 people were forced to relocate from the town of Futaleufu,
while officials in neighboring areas distributed face masks and drinking
water.
The dense, 30-kilometer (19-mile) high plume of volcanic ash took a
northeasterly turn overnight to Wednesday after moving for days in a
southeasterly direction, the head of the National Emergency Office,
Rodrigo Rojas, told AFP.
Ash from the volcano is expected to blanket the Chilean town of Palena
and the Argentine ski resort Bariloche northeast of Chaiten, Rojas said.
Otherwise "there have been no reports of significant changes in seismic
activity or emission of ash" since the volcano began to erupt violently
on Tuesday, Rojas said.
Three leading airlines -- Aerolinas Argentinas, Austral and Chile's LAN
-- canceled flights across the region, including flights to the Atlantic
port cities of Bahia Blanca, 900 kilometers northeast of the volcano,
and Comodoro Rivadavia, located 575 kilometers southeast.
"The airports are open but the airlines canceled flights because the
volcanic ash gets in the airplane turbines and could cause material
damage," said an aviation official at the Jorge Newbery airport north of
Buenos Aires.
The official said it was likely that flights would remain grounded
Thursday given the weather forecast.
Officials in the Argentine province of Chubut, east of the eruption,
said some 160 schools that had been closed since Friday due to the
volcanic ash had now reopened.
A Chilean vulcanologist warned Tuesday that the eruption was only in the
early stages, and that an explosive eruption was possible.
"There could be a major explosion that could collapse the volcano's
cone," said Luis Lara of the National Geologic and Mining Service.