Chile's Calbuco Volcano erupted Wednesday after a multi-decade dormant period.
According to BBC News, Chilean officials acknowledged the volcano had shown signs of activity, but were still surprised when it erupted - twice in a matter of hours. Authorities signaled a red alert and evacuated 4,000 people in a 12-mile radius of Calbuco while also cancelling flights and closing schools.
CLICK HERE to see stunning photos of the eruption via Reuters and HERE for images NBC News compiled.
"I had never seen this before. It scares you in the beginning. You start to wonder what is going to happen to you," an unnamed woman told BBC News. "Everyone starts to think about gathering water and I don't know what. We got together with the neighbors to see what we would do and wait for news over the radio because we knew that they were evacuating Ensenada and other places near the volcano."
Chilean officials had to evacuate thousands of residents around the Villarica Volcano in the country's southern region last month.
"This is clearly a much larger eruption than the one we saw with the Villarica some weeks ago and therefore we need to take bigger and faster measures," Interior and Security Minister Rodrigo Penailillo told the Associated Press.
Alejandro Verges, regional emergency director of the Los Lagos region, told the AP the Calbuco eruption was "a surprise." It had not erupted since 1972 and, despite its potential as a highly dangerous volcano, was not giving experts cause for concern.
