On the Chaiten Front

To keep us up to date on the goings-on at Chaiten in southern Chile, well, the volcano is still erupting! Yes, two weeks in and heavy ash is still being erupted from vent. The latest reports are vague, but Chilean officials are saying things like "There's been additional volcanic activity that we're really worried about..." Now, I can only speculate what this means, but this might be an indicate that the SERNAGEOMIN are really beginning to seriously consider that the whole volcano may collapse.

The town of Chaiten, even without a collapse, is pretty much been wiped off the map. 90% of the town has been ravaged by flood waters/lahars from the eruption. The town itself has been declared off limits for 3 months ... but that is a conservative estimate at this point.