The Villarrica volcano is a stratovolcano located on the border of the provinces of Cautín and Valdivia, in Chile, between Lakes Villarrica and Calafquén. With an extensive history of eruptions, highlighting those of 1948, 1963, 1964, 1971 and 1985, it is currently considered the most dangerous in the country.
Its current state is worrying, and authorities and residents close to the volcano know this. The National Geology and Mining Service (Sernageomin) issued a yellow alert for this situation, which maintains a restriction radius of 500 meters for Villarrica, Pucón and Curarrehue in the Araucania Region and Panguipulli in the Rivers Region.
During the last few days they have been observed “seismic shots” with more than 20 tremors in the sector, all of volcanic origin. The Strombolian-type activity of this massif involves constant bubbles of gas to the surface that drag magma and eject pyroclast flows, which can constitute a risk for people.
“We have started to observe some surface level activity in the vicinity and inside the crater there is evidence that the lava lake is very close to the surface and is being fed by gases that burst at the surface and that generate small explosions, which throw incandescent lava around the crater of the Villarrica volcano” , explained Álvaro Amic, deputy national director (s) of Geology of Sernageomin.
Daniel Epprecht, regional director of the National Emergency Office of the Ministry of the Interior (Onemi), was even clearer, stating that you have to be ready for what comes next. “We hope that there will be no eruption, But it’s minutes to prepare. The Villarrica volcano has had larger eruptions and with this we seek to reduce the vulnerability of the people who live in the sector”.
After consulting some residents of Pucón, they showed obvious concern about a possible eruption of the volcano. Many sleep with bags, rucksacks and suitcases ready in case they have to take off in an emergency.
The Villarrica has historical records of volcanic activity since 650,000 years ago, and, “what we see today (earthquakes and small explosions) is quite common since the last eruption in 2015, but in recent weeks it has intensified”, says Javiera Caro, volcanologist of Ckelar Volcanoes and master’s degree in Geology of the Catholic University of the North.
The concern is not exclusive to residents of Pucón and the lake areathey are also on alert in Argentina. Trans-Andean media and authorities are rigorously following everything related to the current state of the volcano. The Argentine Mining Geological Service (Segemar), the Undersecretariat of Civil Defense and Citizen Protection of Neuquén have shown concern about the behavior of the massif.
“This activity is explained because the lava lake that has Villarrica tends to rise promoted by the rise of gas as well. Because it expels a large bubble, it generates these kind of more visual explosions”, adds Caro.