A series of earthquakes and unusual activity at Villarrica Volcano, thought to be the most dangerous in Chile, has put national authorities on high alert, who are already preparing contingency plans for a possible eruption in a busy tourist area in the country’s south.
Since last October, the snowcapped Villarrica volcano, 2,847 meters high and located between the regions of La Araucanía and Los Ríos, has recorded anomalous activity that includes earthquakes and gas explosions, as well as incandescence (pillars of fire) up to 220 meters high that emanate from a lava lake nearby of the crater are ejected.
“There is a consensus between the technical assessment that we carry out every day and the perception of the residents of the area that although we cannot predict when the volcano could erupt, the conditions for it to happen are met,” said Álvaro Amigo, official by the National Volcano Monitoring Network of the National Service of Geology and Mines (Sernageomin).
The situation has alarmed the authorities and the population in this area, which has a high tourist influx.
At the foot of Villarrica, one of the most active in South America, there are lush forests, lakes and tourist resorts. Pucón, a seaside resort with 28,523 inhabitants, deserves special mention. According to official figures, around 10,000 tourists climb the volcano in summer.
“The problem with Villarrica is the risk because many people live in areas that are highly exposed to what the volcano can do,” said geophysicist Cristian Farías.
Villarrica is considered Chile’s most dangerous volcano “because it’s the most active, with recurrent eruptions, highimpact processes like volcanic alluvium and lahars, and because it’s surrounded by a large population and infrastructure,” explained Amigo.
Experts say Villarrica’s current anomalous activity is similar to the behavior it had before the last eruption, recorded in March 2015.
At that time, there was an energetic lava explosion that reached a height of 1.5 km, and the Sernageomin commanded a containment radius of 10 km around the volcano without registering damage to people or infrastructure.
be alarmed
In November, Sernageomin issued a yellow alert at four locations near the volcano, which includes a ban on access within a 500meter radius of the crater, constant monitoring with sensors, contingency plans, and deployment of resources. Yellow is the warning of the orange alert issued ahead of an impending eruption.
The agency is also running an information campaign on the situation in Villarrica and has sent its staff to towns around the volcano to explain evacuation plans in the event of a possible eruption.
Villarrica is monitored 24 hours a day by the modern Southern Andean Volcano Observatory (Ovdas) in the city of Temuco (about 617 km south of Santiago), where volcanoes considered to be the most dangerous in Chile are monitored.
“What we want to instill in the public is confidence that the technology exists and that monitoring is on a minutebyminute basis,” said Chile’s Mines Minister Marcela Hernando.
The world’s largest volcano erupts in Hawaii