Lake Kivu is Africa’s most dangerous lake. It is called meromictic, that is, its surface and depth waters rarely mix. At the bottom of the lake, large quantities of toxic gases (hydrogen sulphide, carbon dioxide and methane) are concentrated. In the event of an earthquake or volcanic eruption, there is a significant risk of degassing, sudden and bulky. However, Lake Kivu lies at the foot of Nyiragongo, the most active volcano in Africa, which erupted for the last time in May 2021. If the lava from the volcano came into contact with the gases, it could cause a disaster major.
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This is why the degassing of the Gulf of Kabuno, at the north-western end of Lake Kivu about twenty kilometers from Goma, has become a priority. The place, connected to the lake by a narrow channel, favors the concentration of deadly gases. The gulf is shallow and the gas is concentrated about ten meters from the surface, explains the Info Congo website.
Everyone remembers the tragedy of Lake Nyos, in northern Cameroon, which occurred in 1986. An invisible eruption had brought up to the surface of the lake between 100 and 300,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide. The gas cloud first rose to nearly 100 km / h before falling on neighboring villages, suffocating people and animals up to 25 kilometers from the lake. 1 700 inhabitants had died.
Since this disaster, siphons have been installed in 2001 in Nyos in order to degas the lake, which has since been placed under close surveillance. In 2016, those responsible for the operation considered that 90% of the gas had disappeared. The same thing is planned for Lake Kivu.
A pilot station was installed in January 2020 in the Gulf of Kabuno, long before the eruption of Nyiragongo. “But since the installation of the equipment, placed under the surveillance of people, nothing has been done”, ensures the website Actualité.cd. Experts from the Goma volcanic observatory deplore “this kind of laxity in the execution of this project“, according to Info Congo.
The President of the Republic, Félix Tshisekedi, himself asked after the eruption of Nyiragongo “make every effort to come into contact with the operator who has to start degassing work“.
#RDC: Council of Ministers 28.05.2021
the PR05 Félix Antoine Tshisekedi instructed the Minister of
Hydrocarbons, me @DidierBudimbu, to do everything possible to get in contact with the operator in front of
start degassing work on Lake Kivu and the Gulf of Kabuno. pic.twitter.com/22pY3wjKdi– DRC Ministry of Hydrocarbons (@Min_HydroRDC) May 29, 2021
According to Didier Budimbu, the Minister of Hydrocarbons, “the process has experienced a small delay” due to the blocking of the necessary money from the Central Bank. It would cost $ 5.5 million to degas the lake.
But the Nyiragongo volcano is agitated again. The Goma volcanic observatory reports strong seismic activity (tremors called tremor) and a rise in temperature. Again he spits smoke and ashes. But we know that something much less controllable than a lava flow lurks under the waters of Lake Kivu and threatens the lives of two million people.