Volcano tourism at Villarrica Volcano: a first compromise between private operators, volcanologists and authorities
Alvaro Amigo , Franco Vera
Affiliations: National Network for Volcano Surveillance, Geological and Mining Survey of Chile (Sernageomin), Santiago, Chile
Presentation type: Poster
Presentation time: Monday 16:30 - 18:30, Room Poster Hall
Poster Board Number: 118
Programme No: 7.2.30
Abstract
Chile has advanced significatively in the understanding of volcanic activity and their impacts on population and infrastructure. Currently, a segment of more than 2,000-km-long of the Andean arc is covered with instruments and hazard maps have been developed in more than 30 volcanoes. In the last decade, at least three moderate-size explosive eruptions have been monitored giving timely volcanic alert levels that have allowed to prepare the population and authorities, and several other minor volcanic cycles have been closely supervised. SERNAGEOMIN is the official institution that monitors the volcanic activity and develops hazard assessments in Chile, and therefore is expected to provide alerts with respect to volcanic activity and eruptions. However, we lack enough data to build conceptual models to better understand small events and we are still far from delivering early warnings for small eruptions, which have clear impacts, for instance, on tourism. Recent examples occurred at Láscar and Villarrica volcanoes between 2022 and 2024. The new legislation in Chile allows regional authorities to establish restricted or exclusion zones around the volcanic areas when volcanic activity is increasing. Consequently, in recent years the relationship between public agencies and private operators has become very complex. In this contribution, we show the evolution of this problematic, focused on Villarrica an open-conduit system and the highest-risk volcano in Chile, where a compromise between tourist operators and authorities has been reached, in terms of awareness of volcanic and hazards and ascent protocols.