The Hindu : International : Thousands going home after volcanic eruption in Comoros Islands

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Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

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International

Thousands going home after volcanic eruption in Comoros Islands

NAIROBI: The skies cleared over Comoros on Tuesday and thousands of people returned to homes on the slopes of a volcanic mountain, a day after it erupted on the main island of the Indian Ocean archipelago, an official said.

On Monday, lava flowed out of the 7,746-foot Mt. Karthala, hours after the volcano started spewing ash and dark smoke over Grand Comore, the largest of the three Comoros islands.

``There is no risk of eruption in the short term. ... There are no more ashes, no more smoke and fog, all these things have cleared,'' said Maj. Salimou Mohamed, spokesman of the emergency team monitoring the eruption. ``Even the Government has called on people to return to their homes.''

Scientific study

Later on Tuesday, two volcanologists from the University of Reunion arrived in Moroni to begin an 11-day mission to study Mount Karthala and its eruption, said Patrick Bachelery, the director of the university's Earth Sciences Center.

The volcanologists will observe Mount Karthala, study ash samples and then advise the Comoran government on whether it will erupt again soon, Bachelery told The Associated Press from Reunion's capital, Saint Denis.

Lava had stopped flowing from the mountain lying at the centre of the southern half of the main island of Grande Comore, Mr. Mohamed said.

Flights to the main island also resumed on Tuesday, he said.

Some of the 10,000 people who fled their homes near the volcano began returning while the government assessed whether anyone needed treatment for breathing problems that may have been caused by the ash and smoke, he said.

Tap water was not contaminated by the ash or smoke, but water in cisterns was still being studied for possible contamination, he said.

Mt. Karthala last erupted in July 1991. No one was killed then, but tens of thousands of villagers left their homes. Moroni, the capital with a population of 50,000, sits at the foot of the western slope of Mt. Karthala.

Comoros, a republic that gained independence from France in 1975, lies about 300 km east of Mozambique and 400 km west of Madagascar.

One of the world's poorest countries, it has a young and rapidly increasing population of about 770,000, and few natural resources. — AP

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