Chile and Argentina have ordered an evacuation of the Andes region which borders the two South American countries because of the threat of an eruption from the Copahue Volcano.

The two nations issued on Monday red alerts and placed evacuation measures as thousands of residents left their homes.

Copahue's El Agrio crater, one of the volcano's dozen craters, had been spewing gas for months that had been reduced in the past few days, but has increased seismic activity with thousands of minor tremors in the last 48 hours.

Gonzalo Arroyo, the regional director of ONEMI, the Chilean Home Office's Emergency Unit, forecast a 95 per cent chance of an eruption, making it necessary for the 2,000 Chileans who live within the 15-mile radius of the volcano to leave as a safety precaution.

In Argentina, 600 residents from the town of Caviahue, which is less then 10 miles from the volcano, were ordered to leave.

Copahue, which last erupted in 1992, is one of the 3,000 volcanoes in the southern Andean mountain range of which 500 are active.

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