News Americas, SANTIAGO, Chile, Mon. June 6, 2011: Some 3,500 people in southern Chile have been evacuated after a chain of volcanoes erupted.
The Puyehue-Cordon-Caulle volcano range, about 500 miles south of the capital, Santiago erupted violently Saturday. The National Emergency Office said it recorded an average of 230 tremors an hour.
As such, officials have issued a red alert – the maximum warning level for the area.
The volcano chain continues to send smoke and ash billowing over six miles into the air with ash clouds drifting to neighboring Argentina.
One official there said ash was falling like snow.
This is the first serious eruption of the volcano chain since 1960, when the area was hit by a massive earthquake.
