Neuquén province declared disaster zone, Emergency Law approved

The province of Neuquén’s legislative unanimously approved the Emergency law, applying it to economic, social factors and the environmental state of the Los Lagos area, declared a disaster zone after being badly affected by the Puyehue volcano eruption.

Once applied, the law will provide economic, tax exemptions, suspension of payment plan expiry dates and urgent cases, employment plans and the creation of a provincial emergency fund.

The measure was approved by the Executive Power and negotiated credit with the State, offering a limit of 50 million dollars for the recovery, cleaning and environmental preservation of disaster –affected zones.

The area of Los Lagos, which covers 4,230 hectares of land, including the town of Villa la Angostura has been declared an emergency zone.

In general today, the wintry weather conditions and the ever prominent ash cloud produced by Chile’s Puyehue volcano continued to engulf the central and southern part of Neuquén and west and central-south parts of Río Negro, with sleet and rain storms predicted, the National Meteorological Service (SMN) informed.

During the course of the morning, heavy cloud was predicted for the mountainous region, along with rain, sleet and northerly wind blasts between 20 and 35 kilometres per hour.

Over the tundra or flatlands, heavy cloud was also predicted with frost and poor visibility due to the lingering ash cloud and westerly winds with speeds of between 15 and 25 kilometres per hour. Minimum temperatures are expected to be between -4º and 0º degrees, with highs of between 2º and 7º degrees, SMN stated.