Chaiten Volcano Erupts Again

No worries for us, we're far away but awful for the South of Chile. I have an online friend building a house in Futalefeu. Imagine the luck of moving to the most beautiful part of Chile and a volcano nearby (that has not erupted in 9000 years-yes 9 thousand.) erupts (the first time last May). These are a few of her comments back then.

May 2, 2008 This is an odd thing...

I'm accustomed to earthquakes having lived along fault lines is Costa Rica and Panama, and I know that Chile is an active quake country. However, I find no evidence of quakes over the past two days to explain the jumps and bumps we've felt each evening for the past two days. I go on the usgs site, but nothing shows. Both nights between midnight and 1 am, we've felt the rental house here is Futa jump, and the windows rattle...no traffic (uh, in Futa there is no traffic or large trucks that can travels at speeds to shake the earth). So, I'm wondering what could cause the three very significant earth-shaking events we've felt in these two days. Jokes aside, you jokers!

Vicki

2:28 am...another significant jump with windows rattling and the otherwise fearless dog scrambling under the bed. But still no notation on the USGS site for a quake. Odd, because these seem like BUMPS, as opposed to shakes. The pueblos animals are all a buzz, with roosters crowing and dogs barking. Maybe someone is dynamiting around here.

3:55 am.., You know, strange things do seem to happen here. I have started to take my camera, batteries charged, all the time with me, because I'v'e seen some of the oddest cloud formations ever....a single cloud in the air with a perfect hole in the center. Cool things like that. So, if for no other reason that to have a cool picture...

The USGS just shows a quake of 5.0 listed in Chubut (a vast province east of here) Argentina.

Vicki



And then....

Don't know where but a volcano blew. Silly me woke up and thought it snowed. I went outside in my jammies to take a picture of my first snow, but it was volcanic ash.

Vicki

...It is confirmed that the Chaiten volcano has erupted near Futaleufu in the Patagonia.


Nine thousand years. You never know. What followed was a mad scramble for information and links(the volcanism blog is a good one) and the Chilean government evacuation of Chaiten and the decision to re-build elsewhere. And Vick's trials and tribulations and humor amongst the ash. Listening to her experiences make me really take a look at what I whine about. They are currently building hydro power for their house because after a year, electricity is out of the question. The worst part about Chile is that things are slow here-but that's also the best part.


ABC News
Published: February 26, 2009

Chaiten, Chile—Chile’s Chaiten volcano erupted again, on Tuesday, the third time in less than 24 hours.

The blast forced the remaining residents to flee their homes…

Vulcanologists are warning that this most recent explosion could push the lava flows in reach of the city.

It was devastated last May, when the volcano erupted for the first time in 9,000 years.