Patagonia fears environmental damage from volcano

By Jorge A. Otaola

ESQUEL, Argentina (Reuters) - Volcanic ash raining down from the Chilean volcano Chaiten may cause long-term environmental damage and harm the health of people and animals in picturesque Patagonia, scientists say.

Ash from the volcano, which started erupting 10 days ago for the first time in thousands of years, is made up of pulverized rock containing all kinds of minerals.

It has spoiled lakes, rivers and lagoons, coated plants in a dense layer of gray, and altered the sensitive habitat of animals now struggling to survive. Satellite images show a white stripe smeared across the southern part of South America.

Though it is too early to say what the long-term effects will be, ecologists say life has permanently changed in the region's pine and cypress forests, inhabited by pumas and huemules, a rare species of deer.

"I am tremendously worried because this is an environmental, social and ecological disaster," said Alejandro Beletzky, an environmental scientist in a soot-covered swath of Argentina.

"The presence of volcanic ash in the region, which falls constantly, is very risky for humans, plants and animals," he said near Esquel, a town 1,240 miles southwest of Buenos Aires.

Government officials have insisted the ash is not toxic, though people in the Argentine provinces of Chubut and Rio Negro, and Chile's Tenth Region have complained of burning eyes, breathing trouble and tainted water.

The volcanic ash blowing east across the Andes mountains from Chile has dusted hundreds of square miles of Argentina. Nearby airports have closed because of poor visibility and worries the rocky ash could damage jet engines.