Volcano Villarrica in southern Chile erupted in today’s early hours, sending ash and lava high into the sky, and forcing the evacuation of nearby communities.
The volcano is located near the popular tourist resort of Pucon around 750 km south of the capital Santiago, and is one of South America’s most active. It last erupted in 2000.
Television pictures showed orange lava and ash shooting into the night sky when it erupted at around 3 am local time, although it looked quieter as dawn broke. Some 3,385 people had been evacuated as a preventative measure, said Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo.
Most have since returned to their homes, but the government said an exclusion zone would remain in place until Wednesday for a 10km radius around the mountain, affecting around 400 people.
Ash from the volcano was well under the flight paths used by commercial airliners, and flights were unaffected, said Juan Carlos Rojas, air transit head at the government’s civil aeronautics division.
Chilean President Michelle Bachelet traveled to the affected region and pledged money to help farmers, already hit by drought after one of the driest winters since records began.
The government had held an emergency meeting with the police and military in the presidential palace in Santiago this morning to discuss the situation.
Chile, situated on the so-called Pacific Rim of Fire, has the second largest chain of volcanoes in the world after Indonesia, including around 500 that are potentially active.
In 2011, the eruption of Puyehue sent an ash cloud into the atmosphere that disrupted flights in neighboring Argentina for months.
buenosairesherald.com