Fogo volcano (Cape Verde): 2 villages destroyed, 1700 people displaced - worst volcanic disaster in 21st century volcanodiscovery/fogo/news.html The second village Bangaeira in the path of the rapidly advancing lava flow has been destroyed within only a few hours. With 2 villages destroyed, more than 1700 people displaced and without some of their most valuable economic possession, farmland, this now 15 days old eruption is the worst volcanic disaster of the century. The history of 150 years of settlement in the Cha caldera is now under lava. The flow continues to be well alimented, but it is still too early to predict how far it will eventually go: Following the natural gradient, it still needs to travel for another 4 km until it can reach the break-in-slope towards the steep outer eastern flank. From there, it could rapidly reach the coastal area where another 3 villages would be at risk: Corvo, Achada Grande, and Relva. No historic lava flow from inside the caldera (vents west of the Pico cone) seems to have achieved this, i.e. reached the sea,- so far. The last time a lava flow from Pico did reach the sea was in 1857, but the vents from that eruption were already located on the steeper eastern flank of Pico.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:53:00 +0000
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