Chile Forum

tvn.cl has live news feed at 9 pm local time, and say they will have a special report.

http://www.patagoniatimes.cl/content/view/485/1/

It looks like Chaiten is fairly well cut off. They can not drive out, fly out, and they do not have sufficient navy vessels on scean yet to evacuate the town. We hear that more are on their way.

live feeds from the airport meteorological camera in Futa, and other cities in the area.

http://www.tiempodelsur.cl/camaras.html

They are considering at this point evacuating Chaiten to Futa. They are sending heavy machinery by boat to help with opening the roads.

another photo gallery
http://megagalerias.terra.cl/galerias/i ... eria=30716

We have been talking to our friends and clients in the area all afternoon trying to determine where, what, how, and so on needs to be done and how we can help. We are considering posting a pay pal button on the forum to take donations. I just got off the phone with Mitch Sasser from Aguas Libres. Mitch has offered to make the Aguas libres accounts available for donations and helping with the distribution process. Again, this is all very early, and we are trying to work out the logistics.

We have word from a rancher friend in the Campo, that is rather known as the master (kind of guy other ranchers go to for advice) in Futa. We are told that they will be needing at least some supplemental food for the animals. Remember that this is the start of the winter down there.

Another big issue at hand is the water situation. Many of the people in the campo do not have wells. What they have is water collection tanks, and the water comes from glacier fed creeks. So, many of their water supplies are either contaminated or will be once the rain starts and all the ash starts getting washed down the mountains. We hear that rain might happen around Sunday.

The big logistical hurdle right now is that the only way to get stuff in to Futa is through Argentina. Even if money was on hand, the shipping is the issue.

Normally, all shipments go through Chaiten by ferry on truck. Chaiten is completely cut off right now and limited evacuations are underway. The navy has ships on the way.

That said, something might be worked out through Argentina.

by the way, if you want to know more about Aguas Libres:
http://www.aguaslibres.org/about/

Found this quote on the AP wire:

The Chaiten volcano has "probably been dormant for about 9,000 or 10,000 years but that's not unusual," said Charles Stern, a professor of volcanology at the University of Colorado, who specializes in Andes volcanoes.

Stern, who has studied Chaiten specifically, said it is still considered "a potentially active volcano."

Chaiten last had "an explosive eruption that generated a very big ash cloud," he added. "I would really worry about the village of Chaiten. I think they would want to get everybody out of there really soon."