On May 22nd, 2021, at 19:00 local time, one of the deadliest volcanoes in the world erupted.
The volcano I am referring to is called Nyiragongo, which is uniquely deadly for its ridiculously
fast lava flows, which can race downhill at speeds exceeding 100 kilometers per hour.
Due to a number of reasons, this eruption occurred unexpectedly, thus resulting in a
large degree of destruction since the lava flows passed through the major city of Goma.
However, we should have been better prepared for this eruption, as it was the third time
such an eruption has occurred since 1977.
This video will discuss the ongoing eruption from Nyiragongo, explaining exactly what happened,
and state how the area can be better prepared for the next eruption.
For some context, the Nyiragongo stratovolcano can be found in the central portion of Africa
within the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Adjacent to the volcano are several major cities, the largest of which is Goma, which
has a population of about 700,000 residents.
So, how did the eruption occur?
Since 1927, the summit crater of Nyiragongo has almost consistently contained an active
lava lake.
Major eruptions from this volcano occur when a fissure or crack in the crust causes the
lava to rapidly drain downhill.
Since the lava has a viscosity similar to water, millions of cubic meters of lava drain
in a span of several minutes.
You could imagine the summit crater as a bucket filled with water.
Every so often, a small hole is poked on its side.
The water then gushes out of that hole, thus emptying the bucket.
At Nyiragongo, this crack eventually clogs with cooled lava, and the process repeats
itself.
The time between a lava lake forming and subsequently draining in a major eruption varies, but in
the last two instances took approximately 20 years.
In this case, the most recent lava lake formed after a 2002 eruption.
So, where did the lava flow this time in 2021?
For the current eruption, lava emerged from two separate vents; one to the east, and one
to the south.
The vent to the east was the first to produce lava, which flowed at least 9 kilometers in
the same direction.
This destroyed dozens of buildings in Buhumba, while also blocking a major road in the area.
Luckily, this lava was unusually viscous, by terms of Nyiragongo's recent eruptions,
as videos of this flow approaching the town showed it advancing at speeds of about 5 kilometers
per hour.
However, the truly damaging flow was the one to the south, which approached downtown Goma.
Although I have not confirmed the full extent of this lava flow, I have mapped its outline
as it approached the city.
This lava advanced quickly, resulting in the destruction of at least 627 structures, and
causing severe damage to nearby buildings.
Luckily, this lava flow stopped short of the airport and the most densely populated portions
of Goma.
For additional context, I have overlaid the lava flows from the eruptions in 1977, color
coded green, and 2002 which is color coded in white.
As you can see, the southern lava flow largely overlapped with part of the flow from 2002,
meaning that there were likely people who have had their homes get destroyed, rebuilt,
and just had them get destroyed again.
So, how wasn't this eruption predicted?
For the past few decades there has been a volcano observatory set up to specifically
monitor Nyiragongo.
However, they have recently struggled to pay the bills and upkeep basic monitoring equipment.
Rumors of embezzlement caused funding to get cut rather recently, which likely impacted
their ability to predict this disaster.
However, I would not be so quick to purely blame politics.
In all honesty, with the current limited knowledge of this volcano, it may very well be impossible
to predict when the next lava draining event will occur.
No one truly knows how to predict when the lava lake will unexpectedly drain given current
technology.
With this being said, I have a few ideas on how to reduce the effects of the next major
eruption, which in all likelihood will occur sometime around 2042.
One potential solution is to build a ten meter high wall out of dirt and rock, and have it
surround Goma to the north.
Even if lava was to somehow bypass such a lava wall, it would move at a much slower
speed, thus buying people additional time to escape.
A more technological solution is to place large sirens around the city, and increase
cell coverage in the area.
When an eruption begins, place an automated message to tell citizens which directions
to evacuate.
Additionally, for the double digit percentage of citizens which own cell phones, send an
automated message to them with the same instructions given on a loudspeaker.
Additionally, inform the public through meetings and school education so they are prepared
for what to do during the next eruption.
I hope that you enjoyed this video.
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