Eruption could have been predicted if monitor had funds
RESEARCHERS at an eastern Congolese volcano observatory at the weekend said they could have predicted the deadly eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in May if their work had not been impeded by alleged mismanagement and embezzlement.
At least 31 people died when the volcano sent a wall of lava spreading towards Goma on May 22, destroying 3000 homes along the way and cutting a major road used to bring aid to the strife-torn region.
In a public letter to President Felix Tshisekedi, the workers at OVG, which monitors Nyiragongo, said the organisation had been crippled by salary arrears, embezzlement of funding and mistreatment of employees,
In May, the president’s office said it would pay all OVG’s salary arrears and unpaid operational costs, promising to replace out-of-date or damaged equipment.
Before the latest eruption, volcanologists at OVG struggled to make basic checks on a regular basis as the World Bank had not renewed funding amid embezzlement allegations. From October to April, the observatory could not carry out comprehensive seismic checks on the volcano because analysts lacked an internet connection.
But volcano watchers have said the eruption was not easily predictable. “Even if there were more instruments, I don’t think we would have been able to know in advance,” said Francois Kervyn, the head of GeoRiskA, which monitors geological hazards in Africa.
Mount Nyiragongo is part of the Virunga volcanic chain, and owes its existence to the activity of the African Great Rift. The rift is constantly extending and opening. In a few tens of million years, it will have led to the creation of a new ocean separating the bulk of the African continent from its present eastern portion.
We can see what the future would look like by observing present-day Madagascar, which was once attached to continental Africa.
The peculiar location of Mount Nyiragongo on a highly active segment of the African rift favours quick ascent of magma (molten material) from about 100km beneath the Earth’s surface, and extreme fluidity of lava.