Alaska's Redoubt volcano erupts

Bangulzai SG

Alaska's Redoubt volcano erupts

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano erupted for the first time in 20 years, threatening air traffic and nearby villages with a towering burst of ash, and more eruptions were expected.

The first blast occurred at 10:38 p.m. Pacific time on Sunday (5:38 a.m. British time Monday), the Alaska Volcano Observatory said. It was followed by four smaller eruptions.

The 10,197-foot (3,108-metre) volcano, in a sparsely populated area 106 miles (170 km) southwest of Anchorage, Alaska's largest city with about 260,000 people, had been showing signs of a possible eruption for about two months. So far Anchorage has been untouched by harmful volcanic ash, which is drifting north from the volcano.

"We expect the pattern of this event to be similar to the 1989 and 1990 eruptions and the activity could continue along those lines for several weeks or several months," said U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar on a conference call.

The volcano last rumbled to life in December 1989, erupting multiple times over a period of almost five months, with ash from the first blast nearly downing a KLM jetliner.

Ash can hamper visibility, clog machinery, hinder breathing and damage wastewater systems, among other things.

FIVE ERUPTIONS

Tina Neal, a geologist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory, said each of the five eruptions lasted 10 to 20 minutes, and the series ended around 4:31 a.m. (8:31 a.m. British time) on Monday.

"Each event sent up an ash cloud as high as 50,000 (15,200 meters) and possibly 60,000 feet (18,300 metres)," Neal said.

The observatory warned airlines to steer clear of the area. Anchorage-area airports are still open, but Alaska Air Group -- the state's leading carrier -- said it had cancelled 19 flights in and out of Anchorage so far.

"This is changing constantly, depending on how the winds blow," said Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Marianne Lindsey.

The Drift River Oil Terminal, a holding point for crude oil near the foot of the volcano on the western shore of Cook Inlet, was shutting down temporarily.

"At this point in time we believe that everything is safe there," Salazar said. The terminal was inundated by floods and mudslides during the 1989-1990 eruptions.

The terminal is owned and operated by Cook Inlet Pipe Line, which is partly owned by Unocal, now a part of oil giant Chevron.

The bulk of the ash from the most recent eruptions was blown at the 30,000-foot (9,150-metre) level, and is not reaching significantly populated areas, Neal said.

Ash was confirmed in one community and reported in a few other spots along the Susitna Valley north of Anchorage, she added. Denali Park and Nikolai also experienced some ash fall.

"We should consider ourselves lucky today that we aren't out sweeping up ash now (in Anchorage)," said John Power, a geophysicist at the Alaska Volcano Observatory.

"If Redoubt erupts again, next time the wind direction may be very different," said Power, who expects more eruptions.

"The volcano is still restless," said Neal. "We'll be watching it very closely. It is highly unstable still and further eruptions are likely."

(Editing by Bill Rigby and Chris Wilson)

Bangulzai SG

Evacuation ordered as Chile volcano erupts

Evacuation ordered as Chile volcano erupts

By Simon Gardner

SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile's Llaima volcano, one of the most active in South America, spewed out a river of lava more than 1,100 yards (1,000 metres) long on Saturday in a fresh eruption, prompting officials to order dozens of people to evacuate.

Llaima, which lies in Chile's picturesque lake region about 435 miles (700 km) south of the capital Santiago, erupted on January 1, 2008, and has belched rock and ash sporadically since then.

The lava and hot gases from the latest eruption are melting snow on the sides of the volcano, and authorities say some towns are in danger of being hit by mudslides.

"We are going to start the evacuation of some people who live in sectors that are particularly vulnerable to the risk of ... avalanches of mud due to melting snow," Johaziel Jamett, head of the early warning centre at the National Emergency Office, told Reuters.

"It is a spread-out population. We are talking about a few dozen people, not a massive evacuation," he said.

Twelve people have been evacuated from the Conguillio national park surrounding Llaima, including two tourists. Police have closed the park, and troops have been dispatched to the area, the emergency office said.

MINIMAL DAMAGE

It said an ash-swollen river near the volcano had swept away a pedestrian bridge, but there was no other damage. Bright red bursts of lava were visible in the night sky as Llaima erupted.

The office said on its website that there were "permanent explosions that reach 600 metres (650 yards) above the crater. Falling ash is visible and ... a flow of lava of more than 1,000 metres (1,100 yards) has been observed."

Chile's chain of some 2,000 volcanoes is the world's second-largest after Indonesia. Some 50 to 60 are on record as having erupted, and 500 are potentially active.

The 10,253-foot (3,127-metre) Llaima was the second to erupt in the past year.

The Chaiten volcano, 760 miles (1,200 km) south of Santiago in the Patagonia region, erupted last May for the first time in thousands of years, spewing ash, gas and molten rock and prompting the evacuation of thousands of people.

Ash from Chaiten soared 20 miles (32 km) into the sky, swelled rivers and caused floods that damaged dozens of houses and destroyed much of the nearby town of the same name.

Chaiten erupted again in February, leading to the evacuation of residents who had rejected a government plan to abandon the town and rebuild it a few miles (km) away.

(Editing by Xavier Briand)