Chile’s Calbuco volcano erupts again

SANTIAGO, Chile – The Calbuco volcano in southern Chile erupted again Thursday, April 30, releasing a large column of smoke just over a week after it spectacularly roared to life following half a century of inactivity.

“As predicted, the third eruptive pulse at the Calbuco volcano has arrived. Red alert,” the National Geology and Mines Service wrote on its official Twitter account.

A towering plume of grey smoke and ash rose from the crater, prompting authorities to once again evacuate a 20-kilometer (12-mile) radius around the volcano, where workers and residents had been granted limited access to begin the clean-up effort.

The volcano surprised residents of the Los Lagos region with two eruptions last April 22 and 23 after 54 years of inactivity, belching a 15-kilometer (nine-mile) column of ash into the air before spewing bright orange and red lava.

Authorities evacuated more than 6,000 people and declared a state of emergency after the eruptions, which spewed some 210 million cubic meters (7.4 billion cubic feet) of ash that blanketed the region and disrupted flights across a broad swath of South America. – Rappler.com