Cameroon plans for volcanoes

Cameroon plans for volcanoes

By Ngu Thomas
BBC correspondent in Douala, Cameroon

New seismographic monitoring equipment has been installed at the foot of Mount Cameroon to give advance notice of volcanic eruptions.

The peak - the highest in west Africa - stands at 4,070 metres above sea level.

Commonly called "the Chariot of God", it erupted ferociously in June 2000, destroying many homes and farms.

On Thursday a team of Cameroonian and French scientists installed 10 seismographs imported from France at a cost $330,000. They were buried one metre deep at various locations on the mountain side.

Zacharie Perevet, the minister of scientific and technical research, accompanied the team of scientists through rainforests to Buea in the southwest.

He said the government was determined to do everything possible to pre-empt natural catastrophes in Cameroon.

Shanty towns collapsed

Mr Perevet said that the centre for geo-physical and volcanic research in Ekona, a small town at the foot of Mount Cameroon, had been refurbished and equipped to enable scientists to monitor volcanic activities.

Sustained seismic activity on the mountain in 1999 had prompted the Cameroon Government to set up a permanent committee of scientists charged with daily monitoring of the mountain.

Lake Nyos lies on the same fault line as Mount Cameroon

The last eruption caused the collapse of dwellings and other buildings, especially in the shanty towns of Buea.

Huge lava flows destroyed palm plantations and although no human lives were lost, some 500 people had to be evacuated from the village of Bakingili which was directly in the path of the lava flow.

The new seismographic network will act as an early warning system by recording the strength, duration and distance of tremors.

It is hoped that this early warning system will help to predict the arrival of large volcanic eruptions and help the authorities to minimise damage to life and property.

In 1986, poisonous gas erupted from Lake Nyos, located on the same fault line as Mount Cameroon, killing 1,746 people.