Volcano erupts in northern Ethiopia, two missing
Pastor Dale Morgan
Volcano erupts in northern Ethiopia, two missing*
ADDIS ABABA, Aug 15 (AFP) Aug 15, 2007
A volcano in northeastern Ethiopia's Afar region erupted over the
weekend, leaving two people missing and forcing hundreds to flee,
state-run media reported Wednesday.
The Ethiopia News Agency (ENA) said the volcano spewed lava on Sunday,
forcing mainly salt-mining Afar nomads living around the mountain's
range to escape.
"The volcano at Alama'ari locality in the Afar regional state forced
residents of the nearby villages of Dayulu and Gomoyta to flee for their
lives, two among them are still missing," regional official Mohamed Hayu
told ENA.
"People living in nearby mountain ranges were also forced to retreat,"
he added.
The state's disaster prevention agency has dispatched investigators and
relief supplies to the area that lies about 980 kilometres (600 miles)
northeast of the capital, near the frontier with Eritrea and Djibouti,
according to ENA.
The volcano's name was not given, and it was not immediately clear if it
was Mount Arteale, the only active volcano in Ethiopia, which erupted
some two years ago.
That eruption, releasing a thick blanket of ash and plumes of smoke,
caused the displacement of more than 50,000 Afar nomads and the death of
hundreds of livestock.
Arteale had been largely dormant for the previous six decades, but
started to spew molten lava after a series of earthquakes rattled the
region in September 2005.
Experts have previously said the eruptions were caused by the expansion
of tectonic plates under the Great Rift Valley, which for years has been
regarded as highly susceptible to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.