Chilean and Argentine authorities have declared a red alert and ordered the mandatory evacuation of a 15.5-mile radius around the active Copahue volcano, which straddles the border between the two Andean nations.
The volcano - located 310 miles south of capital Santiago, between Chile's Bio Bio region and Argentina's Neuquen province - has seen increasing seismic activity in recent weeks but has not erupted, Chilean authorities said.
"This doesn't necessarily mean the volcano will start erupting. But according to the Sernageomin (National Geological and Mining Service), the volcano is now in a process that could culminate in an eruption, for that reason we've issued a red alert and the evacuation," Chilean Interior Minister Andres Chadwick told a nationally televised news conference.
Authorities estimated that some 2,240 people will be evacuated in Chile.(Full story here).
In Argentina's Neuquen province, authorities also declared a "red alert," and ordered the evacuation of some 900 people in tourist-haven Caviahue-Copahue. The Argentine municipality had previously ordered the cancellation of school classes.
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