Tropes

www.voicechronicle.com_tech-and-science 2015 000018.txt

#3600 people Evacuated As Chile Villarica Volcano Erupts A volcano in southern Chile erupted on Tuesday, spewing fiery plumes of lava into the night sky and forcing the evacuation of around 3, 600 people in nearby towns. The Villarica volcano in southern Chile has erupted after 31 years of lying dormant. Chilean authorities have stated that around 3, 600 people have been evacuated so far from nearing towns. Chilean authorities have issued a red alert and sealed off roads surrounding the volcano, located in a tourist enclave outside the city of Temuco. The president, Michelle Bachelet announced an emergency visit to the zone. Authorities also added that schools will remain closed in the towns of Villarrica, Pucon, Curarrehue and Conaripe, which surround the volcano. President Michelle Bachelet said, am calling for calm. We are monitoring and evaluating the situation closely. She then boarded a helicopter to survey the area. In 2010 Bachelet was criticized widely for her response to an earthquake. The emergency services agency known as the Onemi was reorganized then and is now coordinated by a former army general, Ricardo Toro, who for years managed international humanitarian operations in Haiti. According to the authorities the eruption was fairly intense but short in duration. Luis Lara the head of Chile volcano monitoring network, said, t was basically a small eruption. The eruption was level two on a scale that runs from zero to eight. He also downplayed the risk of flooding, which sometimes occurs when lava melts the snow cover around a volcano, causing the surrounding rivers to rise. The snow-covered peak of Villarica has a crater that is 180 meters across and a pool of lava estimated at 120 meters (400ft) deep. Considered one of Latin america most active volcanoes, Villarica has erupted on average once every 10 years. A major eruption in 1971 created a cloud of poisonous gases that killed approximately a dozen people. This is just one of Chile 2 000 volcanoes in the Andes cordillera, of which 90 remain active i

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