Chile Volcano

After 9,000 years of silence, Chile's Chaitén volcano (pictured on May 3) is erupting with lava, ash—and lightning (full story).

Since the volcano awoke on May 2, it has continued erupting intermittently, blanketing the area in ash and forcing more than 4,000 people to flee.


Chile Volcano erupting with Ash, Lava, Lightning
Photograph by Carlos Gutierrez/UPI/Landov


Chile Volcano erupting with Ash spreading
Image by NASA


Chile Volcano erupting with Ash
Photograph by Alvardo Vidal/AFP/Getty Images)


Chile Volcano, vehicles bathed in Ash
Photograph by Christian Brown/AP


Aerial view shows houses, fields, and forest smothered in ash near Chaitén, Chile, after the eruption of the volcano
Photograph by Christian Brown/AP


Ash covers the Yelcho River near Chaitén, Chile, on May 4, 2008, after an eruption of the Chaitén volcano
Photograph by Christian Brown/AP