Nyiragongo Volcano eruption!!!

I am Roberta, the Geographical reporter for BBC news and it is nine years after the volcanic eruption here in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the centre of the continent of Africa, which happened on January 17th 2002. I feel bad that I was not here to witness this huge disaster, but I have the people of the city of Goma to create the storyline for me. Here, I can see the after effect that this massive disaster has had on the city of Goma.

This is the part of my job that I love, the Geographical part. I love using Geographical key terms! Anyway, back to my blog.

The volcanic eruption occurred in Mount Nyiragongo. What triggered the volcano to erupt was a constructive plate boundary in the African Rift Valley.

Many people in this country have been left with a scar of homelessness, loss of family, food, and water, which are the most important factors of their living. 100 people died in this tragedy, mostly from poisonous gas and getting trapped in lava. 40% of the city was destroyed, with the volcanic eruption at the speed of 40 miles per hour.

Let’s set the scene here. I have John Seach here with me, who is an explorer, and he actually interestingly enough, took a journey to the top of Mount Nyiragongo in 2008, to see for himself how the volcanic eruption occurred and what triggered it. John is back here especially to tell me what he witnessed six years ago.

So, John, what exactly happened here on Thursday 17th January? ‘Well, first let me thank you for having me, Roberta. Well, local people told me that first off they could feel shaking of the ground, and that’s when the eruption started. It looked like very hot and runny basalt lava poured out of Mount Nyiragongo surrounded them. They had been told before from scientists that had predicted a future volcanic eruption coming, but they did not believe it, as they had witnessed small activity in the past of the volcano, but not as much as it did on the day of the eruption’.

‘The local people were took into surprise, and the government were getting people evacuated immediately, but seeing as Goma is in one of the LEDC countries in the continent of Africa, the government did not have enough transport and resources to evacuate every single one of the people, so they sent them to refugee camps, but even then, not everyone got a space in the refugee camps as they were told it was too full. So, eventually, people died out of frustration of waiting and lack of food and water’.

Thank you very much for all your information, John.
‘My pleasure’.

This is Roberta Attuquayefio, reporting from Goma. Back to you Scott, at the studio.

Recently in my Geography lessons we have started learning about Earthquakes and Volcanic Eruptions, we’ve looked at a number of Volcanoes, such as Mount St Helens and Mount Nyiragongo.

But for now I am going to focus on telling you about Mount Nyiragongo, because that’s the Volcano I learnt about today. Mount Nyiragongo is placed on the African Rift Valley – Central Africa and is placed on a Constructive plate Boundary, which has been active for many years before the 2002 eruption, scientists say there has been at least 34 eruptions since the late 19th Century. But because of this particular eruption on January 17th 2002, Mount Nyiragongo caused devastation across the City of Goma – Democratic Republic of Congo, a country already suffering from poverty (LEDC).

This caused rivers of molten lava, travelling at 40mph down the mountain towards the helpless locals, which was 1000 metres wide, and flowed 20km into the city of Goma. This destroyed 40% of the city, causing the residents to flee to Rwanda, to search for refugee camps. Before hand 400,000 people were evacuated due to warnings, but 100,000 were left behind, which caused over 100 citizens to die – mostly from poisonous gas and getting overcome by a river of molten lava. The lava triggered a number of Earthquakes, which then destroyed many more homes, in the end 14 villages (equivalent too 12,500 homes) were destroyed.

This put a massive strain on More Economically Developed Countries (MEDC’s) to help Goma and surrounding areas out with aspects like money, and health care, due to so little health care and resources even before the eruption. After a number of months, the Worlds governments had raised $35 million to help the many sufferers out. Also the United Nations sent in 260 tonnes of food, to help refugees and people who had nothing, and had lost their homes and loved ones.

All of this could have been a lot less destructive; if the Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDC’s) had a lot more knowledge on volcanoes, and the whole Geology side of Geography. This could have also helped predicting this Volcano a lot earlier and may make the communications between other countries better. Unfortunately they do not have the resources to do so, especially the money.

I hope by reading this it has raised a lot more Awareness towards Volcanic Eruptions.


Sian Crew.

One year on - Haiti still in ruins

A good article from the BBC - please read for more information for the Haiti earthquake.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-12113844

Miss Udy