ARGENTINA: Ash from a volcano that erupted in Chile is affecting residents in various Argentinean cities

Record ID: 444707

  • Title: ARGENTINA: Ash from a volcano that erupted in Chile is affecting residents in various Argentinean cities
  • Date: 6th June 2011
  • Summary: VILLA LA ANGOSTURA, ARGENTINA (JUNE 5, 2011) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MAN ON TOP OF HIS HOUSE CLEANING THE ROOD EARLY IN THE MORNING TRUCK COVERED WITH ASHES STREET COVERED WITH ASHES MAN SWEEPING THE ROOF OF HIS HOUSE SOUNDBITE (Spanish) VILLA RESIDENT GUILLERMO MARTINEZ SAYING "(I am) calm, with all the precautions, with water, masks, and well (off-camera reporter says: 'So are you staying in Villa or are you leaving?') No, no, we are staying." GENERAL VIEW OF A STREET EARLY IN THE MORNING TOP OF A CAR COVERED WITH ASHES FLOWERS COVERED WITH ASHES SOUNDBITE (Spanish) VILLA RESIDENT GUILLERMO MARTINEZ SAYING "This is something new for us. When I was born, the same thing happened in the 60's when I was born. I'm 51 now and am living it first-hand." STREET COVERED WITH ASHES STREAM WITH WATER AND ASHES RUNNING THROUGH IT WOMAN SWEEPING HER BALCONY
  • Embargoed: 21st June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Argentina, Argentina
  • Country: Argentina
  • Topics: Disasters,Environment
  • Reuters ID: LVA75EPSNVLLLRA29M2H5UZOXO6A
  • Story Text: Volcanic ash from Chile fell on the city of Villa la Angostura in Argentina on Sunday (June 5).
    A volcano dormant for decades erupted in south-central Chile on Saturday (June 4), belching an ash cloud more than 6 miles (10 km) high that blew over the Andes and carpeted several cities in neighboring Argentina.
    Fanned by winds, ash darkened the sky in tourist town San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina, a government official there said, adding the city's airport had been closed.
    In Villa La Angostura, at another tourist spot near ski resorts, residents had to deal with the volcano's effects.
    "(I am) calm, with all the precautions, with water, masks," Villa resident Guillermo Martinez said.
    Chile's government said it was evacuating 3,500 people from the surrounding area as a precaution. Officials said the volcano was spitting molten rock, but there was no visible lava flow.
    The eruption in the Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcanic chain, about 575 miles (920 km) south of the capital, Santiago, in Patagonia, also prompted Chilean authorities to shut a heavily traveled border crossing into Argentina.
    It was not immediately clear which of the chain's four volcanoes had erupted because of ash cover and weather conditions. The chain last saw a major eruption in 1960.
    "This is something new for us. When I was born, the same thing happened in the 60's when I was born. I'm 51 now and am living it first-hand," Martinez said.
    This was the latest in a series of volcanic eruptions in Chile in recent years.
    Chile's Chaiten volcano erupted spectacularly in 2008 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing molten rock and a vast cloud of ash that reached the stratosphere. The ash also swelled a nearby river and ravaged a nearby town of the same name. The ash cloud from Chaiten coated towns in Argentina and was visible from space.
    Chile's Llaima volcano, one of South America's most active, erupted in 2008 and 2009.
    Chile's chain of about 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.
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