Southern Chile’s Chaitén volcano once again made its powerful presence known Thursday, belching a massive column of ash into the air and provoking localized seismic activity, according to Chilean media reports.

Witnesses say the volcano began erupting at roughly 11:30 a.m. Ash is currently falling on the nearby city of Chaitén (Region X), whose approximately 150 remaining residents were quickly evacuated – albeit with some resistance.

“About 140 people have been evacuated to a safe zone, near El Amarillo,” National Emergency Office (ONEMI) head Carmen Fernández told CNN Chile. “They’re all out now. At first there were a few people who resisted, but in the end everyone understood that safety comes first.”

Authorities are planning to fly over the volcano to better determine the magnitude of the eruption. The Chilean Web site emol.com is reporting that the volcano’s dome, which has built up gradually since Chaitén first erupted last May, partially collapsed.

Chaitén first came to Chile’s and the world’s attention on May 1, 2008 when it erupted for the first time in recorded history. The volcano spewed a massive billow of ash that buried the town. At one point the plume of ash reached as far east as Buenos Aires, Argentina (PT, May 2, 2008 ) . What wasn’t ruined by ash was later destroyed by devastating floods.

The Chilean government recently decided it will not rebuild the town on its current location, saying the volcano’s continued activity makes the area simply too dangerous for settlement. Authorities are now leaning toward relocating residents to Santa Barbara Sur.

Undersecretary of the Interior Patricio Rosende said Thursday’s eruption confirms the government acted correctly in not rebuilding Chaitén. Calling the volcano a “time bomb,” Rosende said Chaitén’s latest activity “shows we were completely right.”

“We’re in the presence of a volcano that’s absolutely active and that could generate an even greater catastrophe that what we’ve already seen,” he said.

SOURCE: EMOL.COM, RADIO COOPERATIVA
By Patagonia Times Staff