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S. America rattled by volcano devastation
by Staff Writers
Santiago, Chile (UPI) Jun 13, 2011
Several Latin American countries in the path of volcanic ash unleashed from a Chilean Andean crater are facing critical shortages of water, agricultural collapse, disruptions in transportation and growing risks to human and animal health.

Toxic ash clouds, seen to be dispersing toward Australia, have dumped the powdery substance across vast swathes of territory in Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

Air travel over the weekend remained erratic, with dozens of passenger aircraft grounded across airports in the region.

The Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano range in southern Chile began erupting June 4.

The ski season in Patagonia also faced cancellations as volcanic ash affected airport operations at Bariloche, Argentina, and clogged waterways including a river that runs off the slopes of the volcano.

Several thousand inhabitants of nearby towns and villages in Chile and Argentina remained displaced, though some were allowed to return to their damaged homes.

Argentina said it faced an agricultural emergency in its Patagonian region as the blanket of ash left thousands of farm animals without pasture or water.

An estimated 750,000 sheep have been affected in Argentina alone. Data from Brazil, Chile and Uruguay weren't immediately available.

Sergio Pena, an Argentine livestock director said sheep were among the worst affected animals in the area.

"Sheep not only have little to eat but the ash grinds their teeth, further complicating the situation," he said.

Pena said local Argentine agricultural business could look to a much lower wool yield as a result of the ash contamination. The Chubut region was previously hit by a drought that lasted four years and killed more than 1 million sheep.

In Chile, ash and rocks pouring into the Nilahue River raised the temperature to 113 degrees Fahrenheit and killed more than 4.5 million fish, leaving local communities destitute or in need of government help.

National Fishing Service Director Guillermo Rivera told El Mercurio newspaper that fish loss was a direct result of the hot volcanic ash and rocks choking the river. The La Tercera newspaper said the river looked like a "thick, vaporous torrent of chocolate."

Officials said the long-term effects for the marine life of the lakes and rivers of the area will hit hard the fishing industry and tourism.

"I've never seen the lake like this. It's a disaster," Eudulio Velasquez, a cattle rancher, told La Tercera.

"I fish here in the Lago Puyehue and the Rio Gol Gol but I don't know if I'll be able to fish here anymore. I think that all the salmon and trout species have been wiped out in the Gol Gol. It's a tragedy for all the native species," Velasquez said.

Infrastructural damage from the ash has added to disruptions. Ash, landslides and snow blocked the Cardinal Samore Pass between Argentina and Chile after one of the walls collapsed.

The trucking route along the Pino Hachado crossing in the Araucania region was also blocked with vehicles carrying cargo to and from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay stranded in the border region.


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http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Chile_volcano_ash_grounds_Australia_NZ_flights_999.html

Chile volcano ash grounds Australia, N.Z. flights
by Staff Writers
Sydney (AFP) June 13, 2011

Ash from Chile's volcanic eruptions prompted Australian airlines to ground some domestic services and flights to New Zealand Sunday, stranding tens of thousands of people after plumes drifted across the Pacific.

Strong winds have carried the ash clouds 9,400 kilometres (5,800 miles) across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand since Chile's Puyehue volcano erupted more than a week ago, and they are now entering Australian airspace.

National carrier Qantas cancelled all flights to and from the southeastern island of Tasmania and all flights to and from Christchurch, Queenstown and Wellington in neighbouring New Zealand.

It later extended the groundings to all flights to and from the southern Australian city of Melbourne and those to and from New Zealand's Auckland, affecting around 30,000 passengers in total.

No intercontinental flights were immediately hit as none were scheduled to land in Melbourne on Sunday evening.

"We believe that it's absolutely the right thing to ground these services. We will put them back up in the air as soon as possible but it's a safety first approach for our customers," Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Wirth told ABC radio.

Qantas said it had taken the precautionary measure until it knew more about the density of the cloud and its possible impact on aircraft.

The Australian Associated Press (AAP) news agency said Qantas would reassess the situation early Monday.

The airline's offshoot Jetstar has also grounded flights for Tasmania and New Zealand, as well as some flights within New Zealand.

Regional rival Virgin Australia said it was suspending all domestic and international flights to and from Melbourne from Sunday, after cancelling five flights between Australia and New Zealand earlier in the day.

Air New Zealand has said it will adjust flight routes and altitudes to avoid the plumes, which New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority has warned will be at 20,000-30,000 feet, the cruising altitude for both jet and turboprop aircraft.

The authority said Saturday New Zealand airspace might be affected for at least a week, given that the volcano was still erupting.

With thousands of passengers stranded on both sides of the Tasman Sea, Air Services Australia said the cloud had already reached Australian airspace and could affect air traffic for the next few days.

"While the main ash cloud is expected to pass to the south of the Australian mainland it has reached airspace in southern Tasmania and the south island of New Zealand," the authority said in a statement.

"The northern edge of the cloud is expected to reach Victoria, southern New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory (Canberra), but it is also diffusing.

"This part of the ash cloud is not expected to impact south-east Australia beyond a day, but other parts of the ash cloud are being closely watched in case they move over Australia."

Andrew Tupper, head of Australia's Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre, said he expected the ash cloud to move towards Australia's east coast over the next day, although the plumes were breaking apart.

"It's got a very strong satellite signal and it's right up there with the big, big eruption clouds," he said.

"It will keep going. I would suspect it will do a loop of the globe."

Flights to and from Australia are from time to time disrupted by volcanic eruptions in the Pacific, but Tupper said this was the first time in about two decades that an ash cloud was expected to cross the continent itself.

"It's pretty major," he said.

The volcanic eruptions have already prompted the cancellation of several flights across South America.