ANDINE ERUPTION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 239, 30 May 1932, Page 8

ANDINE ERUPTION

STARK DRAMA j EYE-WITNESS' DESCRIPTION OF TOWN MADDENED j BY FEAR. j DAY TURNED INTO N1IGHT. BUENOS AIRES, April 13. j Stark drama and the terrifying experience of seeing a town maddened by the fear of Pompeii's doom were j described hy Mr, William Duffy, a Bri- | tish mechanical engineer residing in Malargue, where the ashes and cinders from the Andine volcanoes for a time menaeed 10,000 inhabitants. This is the first eye-witness account received from any of the striclcen regions, many of which have been deserted by their populations. Mr. Duffy said: — "A strange and oppressive tenseness settled over the volcanic region on Monday morning. "Something dreadful seemed to be in the very air. Gradually the sky turned from bull grey to black. "The whole thing was not unlike an eclipse except that an eclipse is a passing -phenomenon that ci rries no danger* "An acute fear of something awful about to happen caused the people to walk apprebensively, and they were in a state bordering on panic by noon, when midnight darkness enveloped the city. "The ash showers began almost before we realised that the volcanoes of Descabezado and Tingui'ririca — between which the city is located — had erupted, beeause at first we attributed the rumblings and thunder to bad electric storms in the higher mountain altitudes. Ashes Like Snowfall. "But the ashes got pretty thick, like the first winter snowfall, and there was a sulphurous smell that caused one to cough. The authorities sounded warnings throughout the city against the danger of inhaling the dust; and word spread that great earthquakes might come. "Then the panic began in earnest, with the inhabitants rushing hither and thither in mad confusion. What a situation! "These 10,000 people, who up to that morning had gone about their tasks in the same untroubled way as the citizens of London, were suddenly confronted hy a dreadful menaoe above and below the earth. '1If they remained findoors, they risked death by the expected earthquakes; if tbey sought refuge in the country, they risked suffocation in the impregnated atmosphere. "To make matters worse, the power station broke down and the current failed, plunging the city into intense darkness amid a rainfall of hot ashes and cinders. "The women and children clung to. their menfolk with crys and wimpers hut the menfolf were 'equally panicky Many of them commandeered any availahl'e vehicles, loaded their families upon them, and hastened out of the city. Torrential Rains. "Everywhere I stumhled upon kneeling women and children, sobhing out prayers and loudly asking heaven to spane them. "Midnight arrived, but there was no sleep for the inhabintants of Malargue. Their hopes revived somewhat when the fall of ashes began to decline steadily. Yesterday morning it got a hit clearer, and the complete darkness faded to a murky grey. "Torrential rains hurst through the volcanic dust fall in the afternoon, and in less than an hour they had cleared the atmosphere." To-night the vomiting craters of the eight volcanoes in the Andes mountains continued to rumble and boil restlessly, but the authorities are of the opinion that the ash fall and emission of poison gases have ceased definitely. A white coat of ash and dust covers the cities of Buenos Aires, Santiago and Montevideo. It is feared that the heavy fall of ash and dust has poisoned the fertile pampas. Aviator's Observations. Captain Ralph Wooten, the United States Air Attache, who flew over the volcanic region, says that everything was normal during the flight until ha left Rancagua, when he first noticed the atmosphere charged with ash. It gradually grew thicker as he went south. When he was about abreast of the volcano Tinguiririca, then inactive, it was quite dark high up, and he could not read his instruments. As the ash made breathing difficult he kept to the west of the eruptive zone, but was finally ahle to fly across Quizapu, at an altihida of 14,000ft. He estimates that the smoke column was then reaching 5000ft-above the crater, and occasionally he caught glimpses of fiames and seething lava. The violencc of the volcanic activity must by then have materially subsided, beeause explosions were barely audible from the aeroplane, whereas on Sunday night explosions were distinctly felt here, which makes him believe that the smoke column at the moment of greatest activity must have reached 30,000ft. He describes th'e countryside he saw as completely covered with greyish-white ash, as though there had just been a heavy snowstorm. He adds that he is practically convinced that the activity was confined to Quizapu. Scenes of Wild Flight. Refugees arriving at San Rafael describe scenes of wild flight across the countryside in all directions, amid confusion intensified by mobs of bellowing and stampeding cattle. Rain fell yesterday in the volcanic zone and cleared the air, but the atmosphere continues to be disagreeable and the sky is overcast. Six volcanoes were simultaneously in eruption, Deseahezado, Peteroa, Tingairririca ,Overo, and Las Yeguas on the Chilean side, and Tupungato on the Argentine side. Observers from an aeroplane describe the immense crater of Las Yeguas as being like a cauliflower 3000 yards across. It emitted tremendous explosions every half-minute and hurled stones weighing many tons over 200ft upwards. These gave the impression of becoming pulverised in mid-air, Streams of hoiling matter were pouring down the mountainsida like cascades of milk, hut as yet no lava has been seen.