Jakarta –
August 1986 recorded a dark history in Cameroon, Africa. To be precise, a tragedy occurred on August 21, 1986 Nyos Lake exploded killing thousands of people and wildlife for miles.
The eruption was triggered by waves of lethal gas released from the Earth’s mantle and accumulated at the bottom of lakes for hundreds of years. The cause can be landslides in lakes, landslides or volcanic activity. This activity released 1.24 million tons of carbon dioxide (CO2).
Quoted by IFL science, emissions from this disaster have “choked” people in the lake area because the release of the gas causes asphyxiation from hypoxia and is toxic. At such high concentrations, CO2 can make a person faint instantly and can cause respiratory arrest within a minute.
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One of the survivors of the disaster, as reported by Smithsonian Magazine, recounted how the explosion began with a roar shortly after the appearance of foamy spray exploding in the air and gusts of wind blowing into the houses of the local village. The gas kills thousands of people, wildlife, animals and livestock. In addition, large white clouds formed over the water.
The disaster didn’t stop there. The thick cloud sank into the valley and headed for the nearest settlement 25 kilometers from the site of the explosion. This poisonous cloud causes suffocation and death wherever it goes. Only those of the highlands could avoid it.
This bewildering event brought scientists from all over the world to mind Cameroon to conduct an investigation. They revealed it Nyos Lake and many other crater lakes nearby, which are unusual in that they contain a CO2-rich layer at the bottom, indicating a gradual continuous loss into the water.
The Cameroon volcanic line is inhabited by 43 deep crater lakes like this one, all of which contain potentially lethal volumes of toxic gas. Elsewhere in the world, similar lakes are found in Italy, Tanzania and on the border with Rwanda.
The weight of the water will hold it in place, until a disturbance causes the water to vibrate so that the gas suddenly bursts into the air. A similar explosion had occurred at Manoun Lake two years before the 1986 disaster, although not of the same magnitude.
Lakes can be managed with pipes that provide an outlet for the gas so that it can be released into the atmosphere slowly, not in a giant eruption. However, scientists fear that this is not enough to prevent similar disasters from occurring in the future.
Henry Ngenyam, a disaster management scholar and Bournemouth University researcher, expressed concern that a similar disaster could occur in Lake Kuk, also located in Cameroon. The reason is that the waters have changed color from blue to dull red. This condition is the same as seen in Lake Nyos before the explosion.
To prevent further loss of life, he recommended retesting the region’s lakes with an initial inspection of most of the water bodies in the Cameroon Volcanic Trail more than three decades ago.
“Indicators such as thermal profile (how temperature changes with depth), dissolved gas concentration, surface area, water volume and depth can be used to assess the likelihood that lakes harbor very large CO2 deposits.” , he has declared.
This test will truly be a logistical challenge. But monitoring is the only way to prepare for and prevent future lake explosions.
Another means of protection is to place CO2 detectors near troubling lakes such as Kuk and Nyos so that changing conditions can be detected and acted upon as they occur.
He also proposed to equip it with an alarm to warn people living nearby to go to higher ground where heavy CO2 is difficult to reach.
“The Civil Protection Directorate is a designated agency responsible for coordinating disaster risk management in Cameroon. The agency must work closely with other stakeholders in government and the private sector to ensure the safety of Cameroon’s dangerous lakes. If the authorities are not proactive, disaster scenario Nyos Lake can be repeated. Thousands of people and livestock could be killed suddenly. “
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(rn / afr)
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