Manual on ashfall contingency procedures: a work project with the community

ALBERTO T. CASELLI, MARÍA L. JOVER, CINTIA L. BENGOA, DIANA L. SIERRA, LEONOR BONAN, MARÍA L. VÉLEZ, MARIANO R. AGUSTO

Congreso; Cities on Volcanoes 6; 2010

In the Andes there are several active volcanoes, most of them are located in Chilean territory. Prevailing winds from the west transport volcanic ash to Argentine territory. There is no record of the proceedings during and after the fallout that affected our area in the recent past to provide experience for future events. The recent eruption of Chaiten volcano, exposed the lack of information on how to act quickly under this situation. This paper presents a model program designed to create in Argentina a manual of procedures before the ash fall. The project was carried out in the Patagonia region in three emblematic locations affected by this danger: Los Antiguos-Perito Moreno (Santa Cruz Province), Caviahue (Neuquén Province) and Esquel-Trevelin (Chubut province), including the villages around these cities that have been affected by ash fall. These villages on which we develop our study have been recently affected by ashfall from the eruption of Hudson volcano (Chile) in 1991, Copahue volcano (Argentina) in 1992, 1993 and 2000 and Chaitén volcano (Chile) 2008-2009, respectively. From the experience of people and incorporating scientific knowledge of professionals on how to act before, during and after an ashfall this manual on contingency procedure was obtained to prepare communities before the eruption. This material is focused on municipal authorities and local agencies that act directly against such an event. Another achievement was to bring near was to bring scientists into the community, resulting in an exchange of knowledge between both groups, particularly learning from the experiences of these groups (successes and mistakes) before and after this phenomenon occurred.