The monitoring of seismic activity at Nyiragongo volcano through telemetered seismic network Goma Volcano Observatory (Democratic Republic of the Congo)

Abstract

The eruption, in January 2002, of Mount Nyiragongo in eastern Congo, and the humanitarian disaster that followed in its wake, underlined the critical importance of accurate seismology to predict when such events will take place. Thus, a seismic telemeterd network, with centre in Goma Observatory, was built across Virunga area to help the moniotring of Volcano. Mount Nyiragongo is a volcano in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Great Rift Valley. The most prominent feature of the Democratic Republic of Congo's geology is the Western Rift Zone (WRZ), which runs through its eastern border regions and neighbouring countries (e.g. Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Tanzania) between 28°E to 32°E and 4°N to 12°S. The WRZ extends over a 1600 km arc, including lakes Albert, Eduard, Kivu and Tanganyika, until it joins the eastern branch. The Western Rift Valley of Africa has experienced severe earthquakes and volcanic eruptions in recent historical times. Earthquakes with magnitude >=6 are not frequent, but may cause significant destruction. They occur mostly in DRC and neighbouring countries (e.g. Uganda and Tanzania). In 1991, IAVCEI selected the Nyiragongo volcano as the ‘African decade volcano’ for the International Decade of Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR) program. Nyiragongo is located about 20 km north of Lake Kivu and 15 km north of Goma, a city of about 500,000 inhabitants. Goma is twinned to Gisenyi in Rwanda, which has a population of about 100,000. Several small villages are also located on the flank of the volcano. Population growth and poor or non-existent planning has led to relatively uncontrolled use of land for building, and the development of sites vulnerable to earthquake and/or volcanic risk.