Governor of Los Lagos: Palena will replace Chaitén as the provincial capital

SANTIAGO.- The governor of Los Lagos, Sergio Galilea, announced today that the town of Palena will temporarily be converted into the capital city of the province of the same name in the Los Lagos region, replacing the town of Chaitén so that public services may be reopened.

Galilea stated that a water purification plant has already been sent to the area, and that it will put them “in condition to begin a new phase, of starting to offer the public services that were located in Chaitén, between Futaleufú and Palena”.

“We have to put up the BancoEstado, the Indap (the Institute of Agricultural-Farming Development), and the various entities to help resolve people’s specific problems, concerning their everyday life”, Galilea said during an interview with Radio Cooperativa.

Chaitén, which is the official capital of the Palena Province, was completely evacuated yesterday after an emergency protection measure to obligate those who refused to abandon their homes to leave was upheld by the Puerto Montt Court of Appeals. 

Police officers in charge of patrolling the danger zone are currently the only people remaining in the area.