United Nations Development Programme (New York)
12 April 2011
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and partners are working to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people, by ensuring the stability of Lake Nyos, which lies within the crater of a dormant volcano in northwest Cameroon.
The Government of Cameroon, UNDP and the European Union are taking steps to reduce the occurrence of high levels of carbon dioxide in the 200-metre-deep lake that caused it to ‘explode’ 25 years ago.
Some 1,700 people lost their lives through suffocation on 21 August 1986 when deadly levels of carbon dioxide were released into the air, following a build-up of the gas in the lake. Another 10,000 people were uprooted and 3,000 heads of livestock were also lost.
“I lost more than 21 members of my family and all our cattle after the explosion,” says 45-year old Che Ephraim, a resident of the area at the time.
With the longer term aim of returning displaced communities to their land and rebuilding livelihoods around Lake Nyos, UNDP and its partners have inserted into the lake two large-scale and open-ended pipes to allow controlled release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, a process called de-gassing.
The two columns add to a de-gassing pipe laid in 2001 as an experiment of Cameroon’s geological, mining and research community, with support from international partners, who were seeking innovative ways to address the exploding lakes phenomenon.
Experts at the country’s Institute of Geological and Mining Research say that the lake will be secure in two years, allowing former residents to return to the area.
Authorities for the region of Menchum, the site of the lake, have also put in place emergency response measures, including a solar-powered alarm system triggered by excessive carbon dioxide levels, first aid training, and mapping of safe havens. A successful evacuation simulation was conducted in March 2011.
Lake Nyos is one of only three known ‘exploding lakes’ in the world, the others being Lake Monoun, also in Cameroon, and Lake Kivu in Rwanda.
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Undp Helping Community to Return Home After Lake Explosion