Chile's Chaiten Volcano continued to spew ash into the sky Sunday as President Michelle Bachelet toured shelters crammed with evacuees fleeing the catastrophe in the nation's southern region.
Roiling clouds of volcanic ash loomed overhead as Michelle Bachelet visited the town of Chaiten and spoke with a few remaining residents.
Evacuees sought their president's support to rebuild the town of 4,500 outside the path of the volcano, which experts said roared to life Thursday for the first time in at least 9,000 years.
But Bachelet said it was too early to decide on relocating the town, located 6 miles (10 kilometers) from Chaiten Volcano, and that experts were working to determine when it may be safe to return.
In this photo released by Intendencia Regional de Los Lagos, a Navy soldier moves a child onto a waiting boat to be evacuated out of Chaiten, southern Chile, after the Chaiten volcano erupted, Friday, May 2, 2008. Chilean authorities evacuated hundreds of people from remote villages on Friday after the volcano erupted, sending minor earthquakes rippling through the region. "Obviously, we'd like people from Chaiten to return as soon as possible, but we know there are still risks and uncertainty about how the volcano will behave," Bachelet said.
Most of Chaiten's residents fled as the initial eruption cloaked their corner of the Los Lagos region with a thick layer of ash - polluting the air and water supply.
Police said Sunday that a 92-year-old woman died of a heart attack aboard a navy boat as she was evacuated.
Some residents already want to go home. "We will rebuild from the ashes," Chaiten Mayor Jose Miguel Fritis promised on Saturday.
Experts estimate that Chaiten last erupted at least 9,000 years ago.
Source:Xinhua
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