May 10, 2008
With three bottles of drinking water and a few boxes of food, Remigio Ramos had held Saturday as long as possible in his house stone Futaleufu, a small town of Chilean Patagonia buried under ash from the volcano crachée Chaiten nearby.
"I will not go even by force. I will not leave my house and my only horse," said the carpenter 63 years before the house he built himself and he shares today, hui with Melba Ibanez, 55 years.
A 150 km away, the volcano spits Chaiten last week thick clouds of ash that covered a large part of the region, including neighboring Argentina.
A Futaleufu, about 280 of the 2,000 people in total, have chosen to remain under constant threat of the volcano and without drinking water or food.
The ash is everywhere in the streets, on roofs of houses, branches of cypress stands and shops deserted, s'insinuant into houses.
After more than a week's eruption of Chaiten, the town is still covered with a grey jacket, similar to the snow a little dirty, which gives the appearance of a ghost town. All around, the landscape is lunar, invariably gray where green pastures in this region of agriculture and tourism has almost completely disappeared.
Most women and children have left the village to seek refuge in the region or in Argentina, whose border is located ten kilometers away. But many men have preferred to remain to take care of livestock.
"The government people are asking us to go, but we are not going to abandon our animals," says Jose Garcia, whose wife and children have found refuge in Puerto Montt, Chile town farther north.
The Chilean government has not ordered the evacuation of Futaleufu, but Chaiten, a small town at the foot of the volcano eruption entered into on May 2, 4000 people have all left their homes.
Jose Garcia was able to move around fifty of its cows to the south of Chile and sell the rest of his livestock. But it does offer half the price he had spent to buy them. Together with other farmers, they negotiate with the Chilean authorities to pay compensation to offset the shortfall.
In the village, residents, masks on their faces, are wisely tail in the gym to withdraw drinking water and food distributed by the Chilean military.
"Many people have left, but I still, even if I die here," said Toribio Baeza Miranda, 52 years, his face covered with ashes, perched on a cart loaded with hay and driven by a horse. He owns a dozen horses and during the austral summer, from December to March, it usually takes tourists to the mountain to save his life. But this year, he fears the consequences of the awakening of Chaiten
by erectusplus at 9:45 AM |
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home