ONEMI to install seismometers in Peteroa volcano

SANTIAGO.- Officers from the Regional Emergency Office (ONEMI) are planning to install seismometers in the Maule region amid an increase in smoke columns coming from the crater of the Peteroa volcano.

The Peteroa volcano, an Andean peak that stands over 4,100 meters high, is located on the border of Argentina, where it is known as the Azufre volcano.  Many glaciers originating from the Claro River also exist within the vicinity.

“For now we are asking people to remain calm, since it is very likely that the increased activity is due to the melting of the glaciers near the volcano”, stated the regional director of ONEMI, Julio Castiglione.

“Peteroa is an open-crater volcano that has registered an increase in the amount of smoke columns being emitted, which has prompted us to travel to the area and measure the volcanic activity”, he added.

Castiglione, who is accompanied by Curicó officials and a mountain rescue team from Talca, hopes to pinpoint the cause of the increased smoke column activity. 

Darío Trombotto, a geologist for the Argentine Institute of Nivology, Glaciology and Environmental Sciences, has said that at least 16 smoke columns have been registered lately.