[TLBSHOW]

[umbra]

Its in the Sunday London Independent.

[headsonpikes]

They shouldn't have skimped on tossing in the virgins. ;^)

[Amelia]

How far is this from the ebola outbreak?

[Fury]

100,000? Oh my God.

[BlessedBeGod]

That's odd. MSNBC said that 500,000 have evacuated.

[umbra]

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_101.html?menu=news.todaysnewspapers

May god bless the fallen.

[Johnny_Apollo]

video of volvano

[2sheep]

Earlier thread...with pics:

Lava at 40 mph creates Hell on Earth

[cinciphil]

Too bad this isn't happening in a muslim nation.

[SamAdams76]

Just for perspective, we all thought that 50,000+ died from the WTC atrocity for days afterwards. Turned out the death toll was barely 2,000. Let's hope that these numbers are overstated as well.

[petuniasevan]

Oh, that's a lot of casualties. Even if the numbers are exaggerated, there'll still be a HUGE death toll. Living on the edge of the Great Rift is just that - living on the edge.

The Great Rift is apparently a place where tectonic plate movement is pulling apart Africa. The Red Sea is the part already opened. I'd have to check to see how much "creep" per year there is.

[Illbay]

Of course, I imagine that it would be quite EASY to "go missing" in the Congo. I doubt they know how many people are there in the first place!

[petuniasevan]

Here's some tidbits on the Great Rift:

4. The Rift Valley System of East Africa

1. rifting of the continental lithosphere is the very first stage in the splitting apart of a continent to form a new ocean basin

2. rift valley is basically a graben
3. Rift Valley system of Africa:

1. 3000 km/1900 mi long

2. earth’s crust is being lifted and spread apart in a long, ridgelike swell
3. major rivers and long, deep lakes occupy the valley floors
4. multiple fault scarps give the valley sides a stepped appearance
5. Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Kenya, 2 great stratovolcanoes, have formed near the Rift Valley

[Lessismore]

Lake of deadly gas threatens fresh devastation in Goma from news.telegraph.com.

[alloysteel]

Do we have an Environmental Impact Statement on this yet? How does this affect the premissible CO2 emissions for the Congo? Has there been an Affirmative Action directive sent out yet, so that one racial group is not more targeted than others in the general group? Where are the peace initiatives, to get an agreement with the volcano involved? We are all to blame for this environmental, economic and unexpected loss, and the victims should be reimbursed for their losses IMMEDIATELY. Perhaps we could drop a daisy cutter to stop the lava flow?

[petuniasevan]

This volcano, Nyiragongo, is one of the most active in Africa.

Here is a dramatic image of its lava lake, dated 1994.

[petuniasevan]

Another view.

The most recent activity at Nyiragongo began in June of 1994. A lava lake once again filled part of the crater. The lava lake was approximately 130 feet (40 m) in diameter and sent lava flows onto the floor of the 2,600 feet (800 m) diameter crater. The surface of the lava lake was about 500 feet (150 m) below the level of the lake when it drained in 1977. Photograph of the lava lake by Jack Lockwood, U.S. Geological Survey, August 24, 1994.

[petuniasevan]

Here's a wide area shot of the volcano. It's a beautiful, fertile area. At least it was, then.

[aculeus]

Nothing follows

Nothing? You call boiling hot lava nothing?