Since a few hours it is getting hot at the volcano Llaima in Southern Chile. At 1.1.2008, around 18:00 local time first messages about fumaroles and strong subterraneous noise spread over the media to us.
A first eruption followed 18:20 local Chilean time (21:20 GMT). Short after, at 20:06 a small earthquake was registered in the centre of Chile. The volcano is situated about 700km to the South of Santiago de Chile in the IXth Region de la Araukania. The next bigger town is TEMUCO. So far it is not known if the eruptions are only of sporadic nature and when they will cease. The cloud formed by ash and gas is now aprox. 7000m high, and shows to direction ENE. The National Emergency System (ONEMI) called for a YELLOW ALERT which means that the situation can not be brought under control with local forces. About 150 tourists who were situated within the borders of the Conguillío Park which is surrounding the volcano - were evacuated and measures are taken to evacuate further persons like park rangers and inhabitants of the nearby settlements because of the strong ash rain close to the volcano. As officials say: there are no victims or hurt persons as of yet. The Llaima volcano is with its 3.125m height one of the more active volcanos of Chile and has shown a heightened activity in the middle of 2007. A last heavy eruption which devastated several villages occured in 1994. A picture (LaNacion) can be found here: http://www.lanacion.cl/prontus_noticias_v2/site/artic/20080101/imag/FOTO_0320080101225153.jpg You might discuss this article in the FORUM.