The massive eruption of the Chaitin volcano coated this farm in Futaleufz, Chile, with ash and debris, as seen on May 8, 2008.

The disaster has already killed several cattle, and more may perish before they can be evacuated, observers said.

Small-scale farmers will be hardest hit by the loss of their animals, said Hardy Dorner Hausdorf, director of a local livestock association.

"If they don't have livestock," Dorner Hausdorf told National Geographic News, "they don't have a way to survive."

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