When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

CLARIN

Before The Eruption: Surveying The Argentine Ghost Towns Of Copahue Volcano

Where there's smoke...?
Where there's smoke...?

CAVIAHUE – In this ghost town, the houses are empty and windows are boarded shut.

The red foxes and cauquenes geese are in hiding and no condors circle the sky above. Since last week, there has been no movement in Caviahue, southwestern Argentina, aside from the tremors of the nearby Copahue volcano, spewing gas.

Even though the volcano’s tremors are barely perceptible, this popular touristic town is completely empty except for the people who are there to research the volcano. The handful of scientists know that they might have to flee the area as quickly as possible at any given moment.

The rest, the townspeople are gone – they have evacuated their homes, leaving a desolate and empty town.

On Monday, provincial authorities declared a “red alert” and ordered the evacuation of the whole town as a precaution. For those who needed to go back home to get their things, a “special mission” was organized. When they arrived, they found that the village had been blanketed in 1.5 meters of snow. About 40 villagers went into their homes to retrieve clothing, medicine, documents and pets.

Evacuation (FB Turismo Copahue)

Soledad Poblete was able to “rescue” Tifi and Piren, his dogs. “We are staying at my grandfather’s house until the alarm is over. We are calm and are doing everything we can to be safe,” says Soledad.

Living at the foot of a volcano

It is not the first time these villagers have been evacuated. Volcanic activity in the area already forced them to flee in 1992 and 2000, when the sulfur expelled by the volcano scared everyone. The last time the volcano was active was last December, when it spewed ash for a day and a half.

“This is how we live, we are used to living at the foot of a volcano and we have no other option: we must resign ourselves to the laws of nature,” says Marcelino Saenz, a retiree who drove four neighbors into town to check on their houses. About 538 evacuees are staying with their families, are housed in gyms, military barracks and hotels in the region.

Today the village is covered by a thin white veil and complete silence. Who knows when the living mountain will open its mouth.

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Society

What's Spoiling The Kids: The Big Tech v. Bad Parenting Debate

Without an extended family network, modern parents have sought to raise happy kids in a "hostile" world. It's a tall order, when youngsters absorb the fears (and devices) around them like a sponge.

Image of a kid wearing a blue striped sweater, using an ipad.

Children exposed to technology at a very young age are prominent today.

Julián de Zubiría Samper

-Analysis-

BOGOTÁ — A 2021 report from the United States (the Youth Risk Behavior Survey) found that 42% of the country's high-school students persistently felt sad and 22% had thought about suicide. In other words, almost half of the country's young people are living in despair and a fifth of them have thought about killing themselves.

Such chilling figures are unprecedented in history. Many have suggested that this might be the result of the COVID-19 pandemic, but sadly, we can see depression has deeper causes, and the pandemic merely illustrated its complexity.

I have written before on possible links between severe depression and the time young people spend on social media. But this is just one aspect of the problem. Today, young people suffer frequent and intense emotional crises, and not just for all the hours spent staring at a screen. Another, possibly more important cause may lie in changes to the family composition and authority patterns at home.

Firstly: Families today have fewer members, who communicate less among themselves.

Young people marry at a later age, have fewer children and many opt for personal projects and pets instead of having children. Families are more diverse and flexible. In many countries, the number of children per woman is close to or less than one (Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong among others).

In Colombia, women have on average 1.9 children, compared to 7.6 in 1970. Worldwide, women aged 15 to 49 years have on average 2.4 children, or half the average figure for 1970. The changes are much more pronounced in cities and among middle and upper-income groups.

Of further concern today is the decline in communication time at home, notably between parents and children. This is difficult to quantify, but reasons may include fewer household members, pervasive use of screens, mothers going to work, microwave ovens that have eliminated family cooking and meals and, thanks to new technologies, an increase in time spent on work, even at home. Our society is addicted to work and devotes little time to minors.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

The latest