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Chile to relocate volcano-devastated town


    SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Chile says it has found a new home for the 7,000 residents of Chaiten, the town in the verdant South that turned white with ash last year after a volcano dormant for thousands of years exploded back to life.

    The Chaiten volcano, which erupted spectacularly in 2008, spewed a vast cloud of ash again last week, sending gas and molten rock into skies above the town six miles from its crater, forcing the evacuation of many residents too stubborn to leave a year ago.

    A handful of residents are still hanging on and vow to stay put.

    "We have agreed on a location where we will begin the reconstruction or the construction of the new Chaiten, in a place that has several names, among them Fandango Norte and Santa Barbara," said Chile's Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma.

    The new location is essentially empty and located about 760 miles south of the capital Santiago. The new town will be located about 6 miles from the original Chaiten site.

    "We'll go with provisional installations to start with, while we build the new city hall," Perez Yoma said after a meeting with Chaiten Mayor Pedro Vazquez and a presidential envoy to the area.

    Authorities said municipal buildings could be ready to start functioning within up to three months, but could not say when the new town will be up and running.

    (Reporting by Mitzi Belmar and Monica Vargas, writing by Pav Jordan; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)