Chile's Calbuco volcano erupts

Source: Guardian

The Calbuco volcano has erupted for the first time in 42 years, billowing a huge ash cloud over a sparsely populated, mountainous area in southern Chile. Authorities have ordered the evacuation of the 1,500 inhabitants of the nearby town of Ensenada, along with residents of two smaller communities.

Chile’s Onemi emergency office declared a red alert following the sudden eruption at around 18.00 local time (21.00 GMT), which occurred about 1,000km (625 miles) south of Santiago, the capital, near the tourist towns of Puerto Varas and Puerto Montt.

An evacuation radius of 20km has been established, authorities said.

“For us it was a surprise,” said Alejandro Verges, regional emergency director of the Los Lagos region, where the eruption took place. He said Calbuco was not under any special form of observation.

Authorities said a large amount of ash had been observed, but no hot rocks or lava so far. Calbuco last erupted in 1972 and is considered one of the top three most potentially dangerous of Chile’s 90 active volcanoes.

Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/22/chiles-calbuco-volcano-erupts