Chaitén update, 29 May 2008 29 May 2008
Posted by admin in activity reports, Chaitén, Chile, eruptions.Tags: Chaitén, Chile, seismology, South America, volcanic activity reports, volcanic eruptions, volcanoes
trackback
No new bulletins from SERNAGEOMIN since Monday.
An earthquake of 5.4 on the Richter scale took place at 14:16 local time (18:16 UTC) yesterday 67km south of Puerto Montt in southern Chile, at a depth of 22.4km. The quake caused ‘panic’ around Chaitén, reports 26 Noticias (Argentina), which usually sensationalizes things. The University of Chile’s Servicio Sismológico reports that no injuries or material damage resulted, and ONEMI agrees.
The earthquake was 88km north of Chaitén volcano, but was much closer to the volcanoes Hornopirén, Apagado and Yate (which have no confirmed historical eruptions) and Huequi (whch has). The depth of the hypocentre suggests a tectonic cause.
Ash from Chaitén has forced the cancellation of Chilean internal flights: airports at Temuco, Valdivia, Osorno and Puerto Montt are currently affected, reports Univisión today (quoting AP). 123 Chile says that the national airline LAN has been forced to cancel all flights to the south, but that this is because of a change in wind direction (the plume is now being blown northwards), not because the volcano is becoming more active: ‘It should be emphasized that the suspension [of flights] is due not to a reactivation of Chaitén volcano, but to the change in wind direction’. Erik Klemetti at Eruptions observes that these cancellations indicate the presence of a more sizeable eruption column than SERNAGEOMIN reported on Monday; he also calls Chaitén ‘one of the more important and interesting eruptions of the last few hundred years’.
La Nacion reports the latest on a story that has received much coverage in Chile and abroad: the fate of Chaitén’s pets. Some 74 local pets – mostly dogs – have been rescued by police over the past few days, and are in the process of being re-united with their owners. Salmon-farming is an important part of the local economy in southern Chile, and an operation to rescue thousands of salmon is also under way.
UPDATE: The 5.4M earthquake reported by the Chilean seismological service and the Argentine and Chilean press has not registered on the USGS, IRIS, INPRES or EMSC earthquake reporting sites. Now a further earthquake, 5.0M, has been reported in the same area, just a few kilometres from yesterday’s quake, but at a shallower depth of 9.8km. The quake was at 01:08 local time (05:08 UTC): the Chilean Servicio Sismológico has issued a ‘preliminary bulletin’.
For all our Chaitén coverage: Chaitén << The Volcanism Blog
Information
Global Volcanism Program: Chaitén – summary information for Chaitén (1508-41)
ONEMI, Oficina Nacional de Emergencia – Chilean government emergencies office (Spanish)
SERNAGEOMIN – volcanology information from the Servicio Nacional de Geología y Minería (Spanish)
Sismicidad Nacional – the latest earthquakes as reported by the Chilean Seismological Service
News
Pánico cerca del Chaitén por sismo de 5,4 grados – 26 Noticias, 29 May 2008 (Spanish)
LAN suspende vuelos al sur de Chile por cenizas del Chaitén – 123 Chile, 29 May 2008 (Spanish)
Suspenden vuelos al sur de Chile por ceniza volcánica – Univisión, 29 May 2008 (Spanish)
6,000 tons of salmon rescued from area of erupting Chilean volcano – International Herald Tribune, 27 May 2008
Comments
Sorry comments are closed for this entry
The Volcanism Blog 
The earthquake pointed out in your text does not come up in IRIS or the USGS quake sites, With the new monitoring equipment that the USGS has installed down at Chaiten surely this event should have been picked up and listed on one of the two sites.
As regards pets. Interesting to note that during the 2004 Tsunami. In Patong beach Thailand no pets were lost. They took to the hills before the Tsunami arrived.
Yes, I noticed its absence from those two sites … and there’s still nothing there. But the Chilean seismology service is usually reliable, so I don’t know quite what is going on.
I emailed the USGS with the concern and question about the 5.4M quake in Chile. It’s very weird that it was felt and observed and reported in papers but shows on none of the reporting sites, including EMSC, IRIS and USGS.
It would be great if you could post a comment here letting us know what the USGS say. There’s still no sign of this event on the sites you mention, nor on the Argentine seismic service INPRES.
[…] in view of the unusual seismic activity here. The quakes north of Chaitén began a year ago. Quake report via The Volcanism Blog, which watches Spanish language sources. USGS has not yet posted the latest temblor to IRIS. […]
I also was curious as to why they don’t appear at the IRIS site and USGS site. The chile site shows them
http://ssn.dgf.uchile.cl/cgi-bin/sismo_cab.pl
and they have been reported in the press emol.com
IRIS bases most of its info off of USGS. EMSC also does. I’ve not yet heard back from USGS and will send another email in the next couple days. Most people I email there tend to respond within 48 hours. So, I’ll fire another question off Monday. Yes, I’d be happy to post here what the answer is. I’m HIGHLY curious about it right now.
still no response from USGS via email. anyone else heard what the story is of it not showing on their site?
I also e-mailed the USGS at the beginning of this month, but there’s been no response. I’ve no idea why these quakes weren’t picked up, and can only echo Lisa Gentry’s question…