Chile races to clear ash before rain
SOLDIERS were sent to clear ash from towns and roads near Chile’s Calbuco volcano, which was quieter but continued to release columns of ash days after emitting twin spectacular eruptions.
Yesterday Chile’s National Geology and Mining Service said rainfall in the coming days could cause dangerous lahars, mudflows of debris, pyroclastic material and water that would flow down the volcano’s slopes and through valleys. Experts also said they feared the rain could cause the thick layer of volcanic ash to harden in place.
About 400 soldiers are helping residents clean the ash from streets and properties.
The area looks like a “grey desert,” said 45- year- old local Victor Hugo Toledo.
“Wherever you look all you see is grey dust; there is an average of 50cm of it over the towns and on all the roofs.”
Officials are urging people to use masks or handkerchiefs to prevent breathing in dust.
More than 6000 people have been evacuated and authorities are maintaining a 20km exclusion zone around the volcano. IF there is one photo to take home from Switzerland, it’s probably a selfie featuring iconic Saint Bernard dogs against the snow- covered backdrop of the Matterhorn peak. But such photo- ops are now over. The popular ski resort of Zermatt has banned tourists from posing for photos with the famed search and rescue dog, following complaints that some of the Saint Bernards are kept in miserable conditions.
Swiss animal protection group PSA had called for the ban, saying that some dogs used in Zermatt were not taken for walks and were left “for long periods without food or water”.
“They are made to wait long hours in the cold outdoors for photographs,” said PSA in a report.
Five of the Saint Bernards were also kept in a decrepit house “in miserable conditions and against animal protection laws,” added PSA, which filed a formal complaint against the owners of one such business offering photo- ops with the emblematic animals.