Chile Forum

This is an odd thing...

I'm accustomed to earthquakes having lived along fault lines is Costa Rica and Panama, and I know that Chile is an active quake country. However, I find no evidence of quakes over the past two days to explain the jumps and bumps we've felt each evening for the past two days. I go on the usgs site, but nothing shows. Both nights between midnight and 1 am, we've felt the rental house here is Futa jump, and the windows rattle...no traffic (uh, in Futa there is no traffic or large trucks that can travels at speeds to shake the earth). So, I'm wondering what could cause the three very significant earth-shaking events we've felt in these two days. Jokes aside, you jokers!

Vicki

ADMIN NOTE: Edited title to reflect confirmed Volcanic activity near Chaiten in Southern Chile.
Updated thread status to sticky Global Announcement. This will be the official thread related to the Emergency.

On Friday, May 2nd, a long dormant volcano 10 kms from the town of Chaiten erupted in region X, Palena, in the Patagonia of Southern Chile. The resulting ash cloud forced the total evacuation of the town of Chaiten, and a partial evacuation of the town of Futaleufu, 70 kms to the East on the boarder with Argentina.

The Chile Forum has members that are currently located in Futaleufu, and we have many more friends in the area. We are asking anyone that can help to please contribute to the following account for general relief for the victims and those effected by the volcano. Long term assistance will be required to help Palena region recover its tourism and agriculture industry, and help get the people of the region back on their feet.

If you would like to donate to the Futaleufu relief effort please find the Pay Pal donate button at the top of the Chile Forum.

2:28 am...another significant jump with windows rattling and the otherwise fearless dog scrambling under the bed. But still no notation on the USGS site for a quake. Odd, because these seem like BUMPS, as opposed to shakes. The pueblos animals are all a buzz, with roosters crowing and dogs barking. Maybe someone is dynamiting around here.

Vicki

OOOOOOOoooooo...sounds like it's time for the Believe It or Not Forum.....dee dee dee dum dee dee dee dum ...

Actually, I felt a tiny quake about a week ago here on the central coast which didn't show on my widget that reports directly from USGS. So who knows what's goin' on. More reason to be prepared....ya?

Hey ee,

You know, strange things do seem to happen here. I have started to take my camera, batteries charged, all the time with me, because I'v'e seen some of the oddest cloud formations ever....a single cloud in the air with a perfect hole in the center. Cool things like that. So, if for no other reason that to have a cool picture...

The USGS just shows a quake of 5.0 listed in Chubut (a vast province east of here) Argentina.

Vicki

Don't know where but a volcano blew. Silly me woke up and thought it snowed. I went outside in my jammies to take a picture of my first snow, but it was volcanic ash.

Vicki

I just put three pictures in the Chili Photo Gallery (Futa turns 79), taken this morning at 11:00 am. Tis' volcanic ash.

Vicki

It is confirmed that the Chaiten volcano has erupted near Futaleufu in the Patagonia.

We are talking the the Mayor's office and other city officials in Futa, as we have several client's in the area currently. They will contact us if there are any official instructions. Currently they say to stay in doors, and there is some concern over the drinking water. We are trying to contact a friend that is the head of the city water system to get word on what is going on currently.

More in a min

tvn.cl has live news right now on their web site with video.

here is a map
http://www.emol.com/

video on youtube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dtMAiTwsTzU

Here is the proper link to vicki's photos:
http://www.allchile.net/chilephotos/dis ... at=0&pos=1

Here is the news we have so far.

Chaiten has been hit hard as it is only 10 km from the Chaiten volcano. Everyone thought it was dormant.

4 navy vessels are in Chaiten. Air force planes are on the way. Currently they are evacuating old, sick, young. Pumalin south is being evacuated. Expectations this will be about 25% of the population.

There is currently no money in Chaiten as the only ATM was run dry by people (I have done this with a couple of ATM cards however).

More news as we get it.

We had word in Futa that they have cut the city water, but we as yet to confirm this.

They are officially saying now on the news to not drink the water.

There is big concern about the animals, especially after last years drought. They are expecting the ranchers in the area to suffer wide spread death of animals from lack of food.

I would suspect that there will also be issues of being able to sell the animals.

The entire region is about to have a very hard time. Agriculture and tourism are about to take major hits, and those are basically the only industries in the area.

We filled up some water bottles earlier in the day - it looks and smells fine. Water is off now. Does anyone know if my filled bottles might be safe. Cause if not, rats, we'll have to drink wine!

if you can drink Cristal beer, the water is likely fine by comparison.