SANTIAGO, Chile —Chilean and Argentine officials issued a red alert Monday for the increasingly active Copahue volcano bordering the two countries and ordered the evacuation of about 3,000 people.
Chilean Interior and Security Minister Andres Chadwick said the increased activity could lead to an eruption and officials would soon begin evacuating 2,240 people, or 460 families, within a 15.5-mile radius.
“This evacuation is obligatory; it’s not voluntary,” Chadwick told reporters.
Chile’s Emergency Office said the evacuation could last about 48 hours, but could be delayed because of heavy rains.
The nearly 10,000-foot volcano sits in the Andes cordillera, overlapping Chile’s Bio Bio region and Argentina’s Neuquen province.
Argentine officials raised their alert level to red Monday afternoon due to higher seismic activity and ordered the evacuation of about 600 people from the town of Caviahue to the neighboring city of Loncopue.
Copahue had a major eruption in 1992, according to the Chilean Mining Ministry’s Sernageomin geology unit. It became highly active with blasts and gases in 2002, in its strongest activity in more than 20 years.
