improved notes

• Where is Mt Nyiragongo located?

  
  

  Democratic Republic of the Congo

  -> Goma - lies on the Eastern border between Congo & Rwanda
• When was the eruption?


  January 2002
• What did the eruption measure on the VEI scale?


  1
• What is Mt Nyiragongo associated with?

  The African Rift Valley
• Provide some background knowledge of Congo.


  Country already shattered by decades of violence
• Which disease is Congo a hotspot for?

  Give an example of a movement which caused an outbreak and what the fear for the future is.

  Cholera

  1994 -> >1 million refugees crossed border from Rwanda = outbreak due to lack of decent sanitation

  Epidemic occurred -> graves impossible to dig due to ground = spread of disease

  Future -> mass evacuation from eruption will come alongside lack of toilet access = another epidemic
• What is the city of Goma made entirely of?

  Cooled lava
• How many kilometres is the volcano's crater rim in diameter?

  2
• How deep is the main crater of the volcano?

  250m
• What is significant about the volcanoes lava lake?

  It is biggest of the 6 lava lakes located globally
• What is the volcanoes lava like in terms of fluidity and speed?

  V fluid

  Moves downhill of speeds of up to 90km/h (slow flowing?)
• Why does the volcano's location increase risk and vulnerability?

  Goma = part of v fertile agricultural region, SO large number of people have settled there. (Altitude, 1,500m, + extended growing season + fertile volcanic soils)

  Recent CO2 emissions = increased vulnerability
• How many kilometres was the fissure opening on the southern flank of the volcano?

  How deep?

  What feature of the landscape did this affect?

  - 13km

  - 2m deep

  - Flowed in direction of Goma & Lake Kivu
• How many people died?

  147
• How many people were estimated to have fled the area and where to?

  What problems did this cause?

  - 350,000

  - Many over the border to Rwanda

  - Enormous problem in providing food & shelter in this small country
• What fraction of Goma did the lava flows destroy?

  How many inhabitants does Goma have?

  1/3

  200,000
• What else happened to Goma?

  - Commercial centre of town destroyed

  - Water & power facilities destroyed

  - Many medical facilities inc 3 healthcare centres & 1 hospital destroyed
• What happened to Goma airport runway?

  Lava covered the northern third of it
• What happened to Lake Kivu & what are the fears?

  - Sulphurous lava entered it -> poisoned water which is a major source of drinking water in area

  - Fear = rise in temp of Lake (due to lava) could allow toxic gases to be released from the lake bed
• What other hazard accompanied the eruption?

  Of what magnitude?

  What did this cause?

  - Several e/q s

  - One over 5 on Richter scale

  - Structural damage to some buildings in area
• Give 2 further impacts of the eruption (both social).

  - 1000's of people required medical attention, first from the effects of smoke & fumes from lava -> causing eye irritation & respiratory problems, secondly from complaints such as dysentery linked to the drinking of contaminated water

  - Vast looting - abandoned homes & commercial properties

  (Some people killed in a petrol store, attempting to loot, which exploded)
• What was an initial response to the eruption?

  Authorities issued a "Red Alert" for Goma & surrounding area -> full evacuation significantly reduced death toll
• In terms of responses, what happened two days after the eruption?

  UN ferried in humanitarian aid -> emergency rations

  Camps for displaced people

  $15 million - food, blankets, shelter, clean water, sanitation & healthcare
• What is the (relatively recent) name the local people have given the phenomenon of CO2 (poisonous) gas seeping from the ground in relatively large amounts?

  What impact has this phenomenon had?

  "Mazuku"

  Killed several animals & children
• How is the hazard being managed?

  - Scientists are looking for new ways to predict eruption -> to allow for better evacuation procedures

  - Pressure measurements provide warning, BUT magma chamber 1km underground -> indirect

  - Cameras currently used, BUT not a permanent solution for warning

  - Practise drills

  - Educating locals

  - Gas studies

  - Erratic changes in lava lake level

  - Microphones pick up infrasound - low frequency sound waves -> correlate with different lava lake levels
• What is a future eruption expected to be like?


  - Not immanent/near

  - Lava flow will be faster