The headline is misleading as this is not volcanic eruption, although the phenomena is volcanic in origin. Essentially, a huge of amount of carbon dioxide is dissolved in the cold deep water of the lake and more is continually added from volcanic activity. You can think of the bottom of the lake as supersaturated soda water. Eventually the density of CO2 reaches a point where a single gas bubble forms and rises creating turbulence that releases some of the pressure and other bubbles form and suddenly the whole lake 'boils' like a shaken can of soda. It must be spectacular to watch. Unfortunately the CO2 is heavier than air and forms a suffercating cloud that kills people.
Worried by the looming disaster posed by the imminent volcanic eruption from Lake Nyos in the Republic of Cameroun and the danger it poses to some parts of Benue, Taraba, Adamawa and Cross River States, the House of Representatives yesterday urged the federal government to liaise with the Republic of Cameroun and relevant international agencies to find urgent and lasting solution to the impending disaster.
The House also urged the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), to be more proactive in disaster prevention just as it requested the federal ministry of environment to ascertain the scope and imminence of the explosion of the lake and furnish the House with an immediate report.
Also, the House committee on Emergency Preparedness was mandated to liaise with its Cameroon counterparts to fashion out ways in which the accumulated poisonous gas in the lake could be controlled.
Moving a motion on the impending catastrophe, Hon. Terngu Tsega, pointed out that the current volume of gas in the lake amounts to 300 million cubic meters of poisonous carbon dioxide which is over and above the volume that precipitated a similar explosion of the lake in 1986.
He also noted that about 1,800 people died in large scale volcanic eruptions in 1954, 1982, 1985 and 1986, with 843 hospitalised while there was widespread devastation of farmlands and vegetation in affected areas due to massive emissions of dangerous gaseous substances at very high velocity. |
