MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Erupting volcano ash blanket in Chile moves to Argentina

Police help with the evacuation

The Chilean Navy has begun the evacuation of 2.000 people who were forcibly displaced from their villages in southern Chile after a volcano considered dormant for thousands of years became active belching fire and ash, and generating minor earth tremors that continued on Saturday.

The 1.200-meter high snowcapped Chaiten volcano in the Los Lagos Region, (lakes region) close to Puerto Montt and 1.200 kilometers south of Santiago started rumbling Thursday night according to Chile's Emergency Bureau. The Chilean government declared a state of emergency and evacuated all people in the range of ten miles. Evacuees are being transported in huge barges by the Chilean Navy across the Ancud gulf mainly to Puerto Montt while another support vessel arrived with drinking water and trucks to distribute among those left behind since ashes have contaminated water sources in the area. Carmen Fernandez head of the Emergency Bureau said that mild seismic activity could continue for the next several days in the area. Falling ashes in neighboring areas also prompted authorities to hand out thousands of protective masks and although the ash blanket seemed to have dropped considerably late Friday on the Chilean side, the wind was moving it southeast across the Andes towards Argentine Patagonia. In Argentina classes in several towns have been suspended, including at Esquel and Trevelin popular tourist destinations and flights to Esquel and Comodoro Rivadavia have been cancelled "because of the activity registered in the Chaitén volcano in Chile" which is affecting airports' visibility. Chubut province authorities called on all vehicles to drive slower given the limited visibility particularly along route 40 which links Patagonia with Buenos Aires. However the main border crossings with Chile remained open. The Chilean press quoted a volcanology professor from the University of Colorado, Charles Stern who specializes in Andes volcanoes and said that the Chaitén volcano has "probably been dormant for about 9.000 or 10.000 years but that's not unusual", because it is still considered a potentially active volcano.