United Nations Radio

The International Conference on Scientific Research, Development Opportunities and Risk Management of the Karthala Volcano ended today in the Comoros. I spoke with Opia Menshah Kumah, UN Coordinator in the island nation, about what was achieved. ~

We set out to look at the Karthala from three perspectives, as a scientific object, from the perspective of disaster risk reduction and also from the perspective of exploiting the economic potential of the volcano. I think we have been very pleased with the outcome.

Narrator:The conference, you said, dealt with economic aspects of the volcano. How did the conference deal with the fact that there is always a chance that the volcano will erupt?

Kumah:This is what the disaster risk reduction is about. A volcano is a permanent risk. And people who live with it have to be prepared with knowledge and tools so that they can respond in the case of any eventuality. However, in the case of say the volcano we are talking about, of course over the past three years it has erupted four times. This is a bit troubling. But historically, the eruption cycle for the Karthala has been once every 11 years for the past 200 years which means we have on the average once every 10 years that we will have to confront a disaster. In the intervening 10 years, people still have to live with the volcano. And it is important that they make the best use of it while they still have to live there while of course they prepare in the case of an eventuality. So you have to deal with both the protection and the developmental aspects of a volcano.

Narrator:And speaking scientifically, were you able to discuss ways to predict when the volcano would erupt? Was that one of the topics of discussion?

Kumah:Yes indeed. Volcanoes are difficult to predict but we can, through observation, improve our understanding of the volcano's behaviour. There are certain predictors. So indeed one of the things that the UN and the Government of France has done for the past several years is to strengthen the Karthala Volcano Observatory. In the past year we have actually brought in state-of-the-art equipment that allows us to monitor the behaviour of the volcano. We monitor seismic movements. We monitor gas emissions. We monitor actually physically the video recorded...So the totality of information that is gathered is fed into the Observatory and that allows the scientists to see if there is behaviour change tht might indicate that there will be an eruption.

Narrator:And finally Mr. Kumah, what can other countries with active volcanoes learn from this conference that you had?

Kumah:I think it's more a question of what can countries with volcanoes learn from each other because this event allowed Comorians to be exposed to how different countries and different communities with volcanoes, from Cameroon, from Goma in Congo; from the Philippines through the ? in Indonesia, how they are managing their own volcanic experiences. We are expecting of course that those who came here will also take their experiences back especially in terms of how the local communities we are attempting to build them into the economic exploitation. That is really where I think other volcanic communities can learn from the Comoros experiment.

Narrator:That was Opia Menshah Kumah, the United Nations Coordinator in the Comoros.

Producer: Gerry Adams

(duration: 4'22")