Chaitén volcano continues erupting, causing uncertainty

Kate Casey

The relatively small, (only 1,200 meters) and harmless volcano (quiet since 1835) just 10 km east of Chaitén began to change its tune last Wednesday afternoon, when a series of intense seismic tremors rumbled through town. Even the experts thought, on Thursday morning when the blizzard of ash arrived, that the volcano that had erupted was the much bigger and more commonly active Michimahuida located 40 km northeast of Chaitén. Only later when an aerial view was possible could they confirm it was the much smaller and much closer Chaitén volcano. Since Friday the ash blizzard has not let up and the weekend was a constant exodus of Chaitén residents, over 4,000 people removed since Friday afternoon, via numerous ferries sent to assist in the rescue. The displaced residents have been dropped off in the towns of Quellón and Castro on the island of Chiloé and the city of Puerto Montt, where school gymnasiums have been turned into makeshift shelters. The water supply throughout the Chaitén region has been cut off since Friday to protect it from sulfuric contamination and bottled water is being delivered to communities farther east, where the plume of ash is blowing towards and into Argentina. The wellbeing of residents and workers in smolt production sites in the Yelcho Lake area is unknown.