Government orders mandatory evacuation of Chaitén
Photo by Victor González, Partido Humanista

Government Officials Fear “Worst Case Scenario”

The ongoing eruption of southern Chile’s Chaitén Volcano intensified significantly Tuesday as authorities for the first time reported seeing lava emanating from the volcano’s crater. The increasing volcanic activity prompted government authorities to order mandatory evacuation of local residents and all emergency workers.

 “It’s a worst case scenario (for Chaitén),” an official from Chile’s National Emergency Office (ONEMI) told the Santiago Times.

Government officials put the coastal town of Chaitén (Region X), located just 10 kilometers from the erupting volcano, under a “red alert” at 8:45 a.m. after noticing pyroclastic flows coming from the volcano’s crater.

The U.S. Geological Survey Web site describes such flows as “high-density mixtures of hot, dry rock fragments and hot gases that move away from the vent that erupted them at high speeds.” The Web site says such events are capable of destroying by direct impact, burying surrounding areas with hot rock debris, melting snow and ice, and torching vegetation and nearby homes.

“If lava comes out of the volcano it would take 20 minutes to reach the town,'' said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet. “An evacuation mechanism has been set up that will allow us to save within 15 minutes the lives of the few residents and above all the members of the armed forces and police that are protecting and looking after Chaitén.”

In Chaitén, Navy ships were sent in to transport 384 people who initially refused to flee the eruption. The boats were set to travel across the Corcovado Gulf to Castro, on the island of Chiloé. By mid-afternoon, Chilean media reported the town was completely abandoned. Still, dozens of residents in the outlying community of Santa Bárbara, located nine kilometers outside Chaitén, refused to leave their homes.

Six buses, meanwhile, evacuated more residents from Futaleufu, located approximately 60 kilometers south-east of Chaitén. Police reported that areas in the town had as much as 30 centimeters of ash. As of press time, government officials were advising town residents to leave but had not declared a mandatory evacuation.

Officials were also studying the possibility of evacuating Palena, located near the border with Region XI, some 40 kilometers south of Futaleufu.

Local media reported that rocks propelled by the eruption were falling up to 20 kilometers away from the volcano and that clouds of toxic ash were drifting towards parts of Region XI. Acting Region XI Governor Ximena Órdenes put the towns of Puerto Cisnes and Lago Verde on “yellow alert,” thus freeing up emergency funds to help local authorities protect residents from the volcano's effects.

In total, some 12,000 area residents have already been evacuated, according to ONEMI.

Both Chaitén and Futaleufu have been blanketed in recent days by toxic volcanic ash, which began spewing from the Chaitén Volcano early Friday morning. This is the 950-meter volcano’s first eruption in recorded history.

Earlier this week President Michelle Bachelet visited the volcano zone accompanied by a team of U.S. scientists and several of her top cabinet ministers.

“We are traveling with a group of scientists from the United States who made an initial assessment of the situation yesterday,” Bachelet told reporters. “They are going to measure the air quality, as well as the presence of chemicals due to the falling ash. They are going to find out about the risks that exist.”

Of major concern is the effect the ubiquitous ash – which has contaminated local water supplies – will have on residents still in the area and on the region’s estimated 40,000 head of livestock.

The ongoing eruption has released a plume of smoke that continues to drift in a south-eastern direction across the Chile-Argentine border. NASA satellite photos released Tuesday afternoon showed the smoke reaching Atlantic coast of Argentina, located about 500 miles east of the eruption site.

By Benjamin Witte and Matt Malinowski (editorATsantiagotimes.cl)