The most active volcano in Chile is on the brink of eruption, as authorities have begun evacuating residents of the surrounding towns and villages within 8km of the mountain.
Scientists in the South American country have issued an orange alert for the volcano, as fears ramp up that the mountain could erupt at any moment spewing lava and ash into the air, and potentially wiping out the surrounding area.
The National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) issued an orange alert due to the activity experienced by the Villarrica volcano in recent days. The volcano is so deadly, it has been given the nicknames “great spirit’s house” or ” the demon’s house”.
Scientists have reported a gradual increase of energy coming from the volcano in their research, and outlined their concerns in a special report.
Experts have recorded Strombolian eruptions, which generate emissions of pyroclastic material in the vicinity of the crater, as well as incandescence and thermal anomalies.
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Felipe Aguilera, director of the Millennium Institute for Volcanic Risk Research told Chile.as.com: “Dangers are always the same. When an eruption occurs, in the case of the Villarrica volcano, the lahars* are the most important thing.”
A lahar is a hot or cold mixture of water and rock fragments that flow quickly down the slopes of a volcano. They move up to 40mph through valleys and stream channels, and can travel up to 50miles away.
These flows can be extremely destructive and are often more deadly than lava flows. Cristóbal Muñoz, president of the Chilean Geoscientific Network, warned that snow on the mountain could cause serious lahars.
He said: “There is a lot of snow on the summit of the volcano. The worrying thing is that these pyroclasts could melt the snow and then, given the geography and relief of the volcano, all that snow could come down as an avalanche, which in volcanology is known as a lahar.
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“All that snow that is now on the summit could go down the riverbeds and that is the greatest danger and the reason for the preventive evacuation 8km around the volcano. Beyond a possible eruption, the biggest danger is that all the snow that is now on the summit will come down.”
Felipe Arón, PhD in Geology and researcher at the Research Centre for Integrated Disaster Risk Management (Cigiden), added: “A volcano emits ash clouds that go up into the atmosphere.
“However, in the vicinity of the volcano, the thicker ash falls in a radius close to the crater and goes down all these streams, riverbeds.”
Aguilera explained that the orange alert ‘allows people to be evacuated quickly’ in case the volcano does actually erupt.
The Villarrica volcano has a long history of eruptions. The most serious have occurred in 1948, 1963, 1964, 1971 and 1985. Today it is considered the most dangerous volcano in the country, number one in the Ranking of Specific Risk of Active Volcanoes in Chile.
Geographer Marcelo Lagos warned that towns and cities up to 25km away could be affected in the worst case scenario. He told 24 Horas: “Pucón is just 15 kilometres away and Villarrica is just over 25 kilometres away. They are in an area of influence that, in a worst-case scenario, could be affected.”
“This scenario could evolve. Regardless of the fact that in recent decades the Villarrica volcano has not had very complex or dangerous eruptions, it has a past of very large eruptions, and that should never be ruled out.”
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