Thousands of people
have fled their town in Chile after a volcano erupted for the first time in at least 2,000 years.
Nearly 4,500 were forced to leave Chaiten
as the volcano of the same name
spewed ash. Many were sent by boat to Chiloe Island and to Puerto Montt on the
mainland. Some are staying in guesthouses, while others are being housed in schools which have been turned into
makeshift shelters.
Only a few dozen people remained in Chaiten following the eruption, which
triggered earth tremors and
spewed a cloud of ash two miles into the air. Some people had never left the town before until the 3,280-foot volcano six miles away forced them to go.
The National Emergency Office said volcanic activity continued, with fine ash falling. Visibility remained poor as ash
clouded the skies and the smell of sulphur hung heavy in the air.
"The panorama here is pretty complicated," Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma said during a visit to the area. "We have completed the first phase of the operation, which was the evacuation of practically all of the local population. "We don't know if this is a situation that
will last days, or weeks or even more."
There is no record of the volcano erupting in the last 2,000 years, according to Sernageomin, a government mining and geology agency.
(taken from SkyNews)
Sí, fue feo. En una fecha tan importante que recuerda la gesta de Prat, creo que nuestra presidenta debió haber previsto la duración de su discurso en el Congreso Nacional y haber llegado a tiempo al acto principal en el que se recuerda el momento exacto en que se hunde la Esmeralda en la rada de Iquique.
