Posted on 05/29/2006 9:28:29 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
MORONI (AFP) - A volcano overlooking the town of Moroni in the Comoros island group off East Africa started to erupt, creating a red cloud over its crater.
But there was no immediate danger, said local police, who set up a special team to keep the situation under observation.
"The eruption is confined to the crater and there is no lava flow," said an officer.
But he warned: "There was no tremor before the eruption, and this is a cause for concern."
The volcano, called Karthala, is 15 kilometres (nine miles) from Moroni, the Comoros capital situated on Grand Comoro, the main island of a three-island archipelago in the Indian Ocean.
The last Karthala eruption was at the end of last year when the volcano spewed an ash cloud into the air big enough temporarily to deprive Grand Comoro's 250,000 inhabitants of drinking water.
An eruption in April last year forced some 10,000 people to evacuate their homes, but there were no casualties.
But the lava flow from an eruption in 1977 destroyed an evacuated village, likewise causing no casualties.
An aerial view of Mount Karthala's volcano taken April 2005, at the Grand Comore, Comoros' largest island. The volcano started to erupt, creating a red cloud over its crater. But there was no immediate danger, said local police, who set up a special team to keep the situation under observation.(AFP/File/Ibrahim Youssouf)
Comorans wear dust masks in the town of Kwambani, near the 2,361-metre (7,746-ft) Mount Karthala volcano in this April 19, 2005 file photo. Lava spewed from a volcano on the Indian Ocean island of Grande Comore on Sunday, lighting up the sky and sending scores of frightened residents onto the streets. (Radu Sigheti/Reuters)
Where is Algore when he is needed to save the planet!
Volcano spews smoke, lava in the Comoros
Mon May 29
MORONI, Comoros - A volcano has erupted on the main island of the Comoros archipelago in the Indian Ocean, forcing dozens of people to flee their homes, residents said Monday.
The 7,700-foot Mount Karthala began belching lava and smoke Sunday evening, lighting up the sky with orange flames that were visible in many parts of Grand Comore, the largest of the three Comoros islands, said Julie Morim of the Karthala Observatory.
Morim said she flew over the volcano with South African soldiers and saw "a lava lake with a big fountain in the middle." She said there was no danger of the lava flowing over the rim of the crater.
Mount Karthala last erupted in April 2005. No one was killed, but tens of thousands of villagers left their homes.
Moroni, the capital of the Comoros with a population of 50,000, sits at the foot of the western slope of Mount Karthala.
The Comoros, a former French colony with a population of 770,000, lies about 185 miles east of Mozambique and 250 miles west of Madagascar.
More to the point, where is Blacque Jacques Chiraque, whose government sponsored a coup on these islands?
http://www.ksu.edu/sasw/comoros/comoros.html
The map indicates this might be just the remote third world paridise for M. Chirac to spend the rest of his life in exile.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.