The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 52

The Miami Herald Tuesday August 26 1986 6A 1200 die in volcanic as escape The Cameroon SisasiGF Carbon dioxide cloud from lake called likely reason for fatalities Tbo Suspected Gases Initial reports about the disaster in Cameroon indicate that one or more of these gases are suspected: HYDROGEN SULFIDE a colorless flammable poisonous gas with a distinctive smell of rotten eggs Small amounts cause eye irritation and nausea and can deaden the sense of smell so victim warned of higher concentrations It can cause respiratory failure and death in seconds Found issi-in coal pits natural gas wells sulfur springs volcanic vents and decaying vegetation CARBON MONOXIDE odorless and colorless can be produced by fire and volcanic action Most familiar as the gas in auto exhausts Kills by saturating the hemoglobin keeping oxygen from the cells CARBON DIOXIDE also odorless and colorless is the same gas that humans and animats exhale In heavy concentrations it kills by suffocation Implicated in the death of 37 people in August 1984 along the shore of nearby Lake Monoun Geologists believe a small tremor brought lake-bottom water rich in bicarbonate up to the surface The sudden change in pressure released a cioud siis-pf carbon dioxide much as a bottle of soda fizzes when it opened Ccnuaroon in Profile THE LAND Cameroon is a tropical West African country mof unusual diversity on the Gulf of Guinea About the size of California it borders Nigeria to the north and west Equatorial Guinea Gabon and Congo to the south and Central African Republic and Chad to the east THE PEOPLE Approximately 92 million people belonging to about 200 tribes speaking 24 major African languages including Bantu Sao and Fulani Official languages are French and English About four-fifths of the people live in the French-speaking east About 20000 Europeans and 800 Americans reside in Cameroon Most of the people live in the countryside The main seaport and largest city is Douala with 475000 residents The capital Yaounde is the second largest city Moslems predominate in the north and Christians in the south About half practice traditional African religions THE GOVERNMENT The president chief of state and commander of the armed forces is Paul Biya who took office in November 1982 for a five-year term There also is a Cabinet and an elected National Assembly with 120 representatives THE ECONOMY Eighty percent of the people are employed in rural agriculture The per capita income was $669 in 1982 and the annual inflation rate that year was 12 percent Cameroon has considerable deposits of bauxite and kyanite and some oil and iron ore Petroleum is a recent addition to the economy HISTORY European contact began in the 1500s with the voyage of Portuguese navigator Fernando Po Throughout the next three centuries Spanish Dutch and British traders visited the area The slave trade was active along the Cameroonian coast Germany retained control of the colony Kamerun from 1884 until 1916 after World War I Britain and France divided Cameroon In 1960 Cameroon achieved Independence with former French and British federations having individual governments In 1972 the United Republic of Cameroon was established CAMEROON from I A this is how it brought death to the Biya said The eruption spread the gas six miles around the lake and at least one village was entirely wiped out Lake Nios is in a relatively densely populated mountainous area in a dramatic chain of volcanic peaks and valleys that reaches into eastern Nigeria and includes some of the most fertile agricultural lands Villagers live in small clusters of straw and stick huts on the hillsides and grow millet and cassava Crisis center A crisis center has been established in Bamenda the provincial capital 50 miles from the site where survivors are being treated are three problems confronting us Biya said first one is to try to check an epidemic from coming out of this area In doing this we are trying to isolate this area second problem is to try and find shelter for the people being Biya said the third problem is of course to find treatment for people who have been Yaounde radio reported Monday night that it rained all day in the disaster area which could dispel the gas and reduce the danger Biya thanked Israel France the United States and other countries that have offered disaster relief and said his nation needed tents blankets and medicines to aid the victims He also pleaded for assistance which would help us put up a mechanism which can warn the people if such a thing is about to happen so that they can take measures to injury Israeli team A 17-person Israeli army medical team flew here Monday morning on plane to aid in the disaster relief Dr Michael Wiener in charge of the group said they brought resuscitative equipment bottled oxygen and other materials to treat disaster victims France has sent firefighters chemists and doctors and Britain and West Germany have deployed relief workers In Washington Peter McPherson chief of the Agency for International Development said Monday that two teams of US experts would be on the way to Cameroon Wednesday WHY from I A likely cause of the reported mass deaths was the escape of a huge cloud of carbon dioxide from Lake Nios located in the crater of a long-dormant volcano If Rhode Island volcanologist Joseph Devine is right tragedy along Lake Nios was foretold by a similar incident almost exactly two years ago On Aug 16 1984 Cameroon authorities found 37 people asphyxiated along a quarter-mile stretch of shoreline of nearby Lake Monoun Police saw a smokelike cloud low over the lake and the next day noticed that the waters were reddish-brown from stirred-up sediment The government in the throes of suppressing an attempted coup kept the deaths quiet But seven months later Devine and fellow University of Rhode Island professor Haraldur Sigurdsson were invited to study the lake Devine and Sigurdsson plan to join the current US aid team trail was kind of cold at the Devine remembered Monday It be this time however he was packing to leave for Lake Nios today At Lake Monoun in 1984 Devine and Sigurdsson initially suspected that the deadly cloud had erupted from a small volcanic fissure beneath the lake which like Nios is among the many small crater lakes in the region But analysis of the lake water showed little evidence of the sulfur or other chemicals that would have been expected from a volcanic event Instead they found a complex chemistry involving wind-blown iron-rich Saharan dust mixing with soluble minerals in the lake The resulting reactions created high concentrations of carbon dioxide the colorless odorless gas that makes the fizz in carbonated beverages that were trapped in the lake-bottom sediments Devine and Sigurdsson believe that the sediments were disturbed somehow perhaps by a small earth tremor an underwater landslide or even a current generated by the wind blowing across the lake As the carbonate-laden bottom water came to the surface (known as the change in ple and animals Scientists speculated Monday that the deadly release of gas in Cameroon was caused by a rare confluence of events Carbon dioxide probably was building up for centuries at the bottom of Lake Nios creating a gas bubble in the deep V-shaped body of water Russell-Robinson said She and other scientists speculate that either an earth tremor or an underwater landslide caused to occur The Cameroon government initially identified hydrogen sulfide as the gas responsible for the deaths But volcano experts said that given the similarities between the incidents over the weekend and in 1984 it was more likely that the latest cloud primarily was composed of carbon dioxide possibly with trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide pressure allowed the carbon dioxide to belch out The gas heavier than air apparently concentrated along the shoreline asphyxiating passing victims before they were aware anything was wrong Russell-Robinson of the US Geological Survey said that a gas cloud from an active volcano and composed primarily of carbon dioxide killed 142 people during the 1979 eruption of a volcano in Indonesia A similar cloud killed thousands of people on the Caribbean island of Martinique in 1902 Carbon dioxide clouds from volcanic activity have long killed sheep in Iceland most notably in 1783 when a huge eruption wiped out so much livestock that an ensuing famine killed 10000 people said Dr Alexander McBirney a volcanologist at the University of Oregon Carbon dioxide is not usually toxic But large clouds of the gas displace oxygen suffocating peo carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide Hydrogen sulfide kills like cyanide and carbon dioxide in heavy concentrations would asphyxiate its victims But McPherson the Agency for International Development director said agency experts had speculated that an earthquake tumbled debris into the lake and stirred up a deadly cloud of cyanide According to this theory McPherson said the gas formed at the bottom of Lake Nios and surged to the surface a cork from a champagne He said cyanide was the suspected agent in the 1984 incident but the victims were buried before US scientists arrived and thus no definite cause was ever The release of toxic gas from the area of inactive volcanoes is a rare but natural event that has occurred here before In August 1984 37 Cameroonians were killed by a similar gas cloud that burst into the atmosphere from 350 feet beneath the surface of another volcanic lake in Djidoum in the same general region as last disaster according to officials here Here and elsewhere experts Monday offered conflicting theories about the cause of the deadly incident and the probable nature of the gas The first announcement of the incident Sunday described the gas as hydrogen sulfide which smells like rotten eggs but officials Monday indicated that it might be a mixture of ATTENTION DEMOCRATS! ROBERT RENICK1 ORTGAGE CORP El Need a Second call CHURCHILL 854-3321 Approwl in 2 lw 2675 Baythore Dr 462-8588 Lie Mtg Brotor SCHOOL SOAftD-COUNTVWIOC VOTE HE RE-INSTATED CLASSES FOR SENIOR 4 YRS DEDICATION A EXPEHIENCM SEPT 2ND PUNCH 129 DIST4 DEM PO POL AOVJH Similar US leak unlikely Lake in Oregon is similar but water samples show no resemblance to anything the lake in Cameroon he said is good news for those The Geological Survey said Monday that a team of scientists was being dispatched at the request of the Cameroon government in the wake of the weekend tragedy The assessment teams are the only assistance requested thus far by the Cameroon government the US Agency for International Development said No material assistance will be sent until there is a specific request from that government officials said adding that no Americans are known to have been harmed in the incident WASHINGTON (AP) American scientists traveling to the African nation of Cameroon to try to determine what caused a volcanic gas release that killed at least 1200 people say a similar disaster is unlikely in this country know of any area in the United States where this is a said chemist Bill Evans of the US Geological Survey in Menlo Park Calif The release of toxic gas occurred at a lake inside a volcanic crater in the northwestern section of Cameroon are volcanic areas in the United States but few with crater lakes of sufficient depth for something like this to Evans said in a telephone interview Present this coupon and save $50 on your next trip to Jamaica only with Air Jamaica Associated Press Israeli Prime Minister Peres is greeted at Yaounde airport by troupe of Cameroonian dancers Peres visits Cameroon to mend rift YAOUNDE Cameroon (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrived in the West African state of Cameroon Monday to mend a 13-year rupture in diplomatic relations In a bid to restore once-close ties with Africa Peres said Israel would follow international decisions on sanctions against South Africa Israeli officials said they hope the Cameroon visit would chip away at what they call a wall of hostility in black-ruled Africa In a last-minute arrangement special Israeli air force jet brought a 17-member army medical team to join an international disaster relief effort in northwest Cameroon where the government said at least 1200 people have died from poisonous gases from a volcano President Paul Biya welcomed the Israeli leader at the capital of Yaounde It was the first time in 20 years that an Israeli prime minister in office was visited a black-ruled African nation Dancing troupes around the tarmac beat deafening rhythms on log drums as Peres repeatedly defied his security detail and waded into the crowds of well-wishers to shake hands Speaking to reporters during the nine-hour flight across Africa Peres said he hoped other countries would soon follow Cameroon in restoring ties Cameroon will be the fourth black African state to renew diplomatic ties with Israel out of the 29 that broke off relations under Arab pressure after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war Zaire Liberia and the Ivory Coast have Good for $50 (Fifty Dollars) off any one-way or roundtrip airfare from Miami to Kingston or Montego Bay September 2 to November 21 1986 Conditions applicable to fare type being used will hold This coupon is redeemable at time of purchase and must be presented with payment to your travel agent or Air Jamaica ticket office For reservations and information please call your travel agent or Air Jamaica toll free at 1-800-523-5585 major Israeli companies testified to expectations of increased business David Kimche the director-general of the Foreign Ministry told reporters on the flight that for the last six years Israel has found an Arab attempt in Africa to build wall of hostility We have been trying to find a crack in the Peres will meet with Biya again today and Israeli officials hope a joint statement after that meeting will announce the resumption of ties Peres returns to Israel late today Israeli officials see the gradual redevelopment of old friendships in Africa as a sign that the Jewish state is breaking out of the diplomatic isolation of the last decade The renewal of ties with Cameroon considered one of the most stable countries in the continent is seen as particularly important in diplomatic offensive One Israeli official speaking before the prime departure from Tel Aviv on condition of anonymity said attaches major importance to this resumed ties since 1982 after an intensive Israeli diplomatic effort Peres and other officials indicated Israel has been reassessing its strong links with South Africa which have hampered efforts to regain influence on the continent Peres said Israel will abide by any international decision on sanctions against Pretoria but it will not take the lead in formulating policy feel it is for us to make world policy toward South he said have other problems We have an agenda loaded with problems like no other Most African nations oppose South apartheid racial segregation system that gives the 24 million-member black majority no voice in national affairs and empowers the 5 million whites to control the economy and maintain separate districts schools and health services economic relations with South Africa do not appear to have affected its trade links with Cameroon and the presence on Peres's plane of several representatives of Not applicable to package tour holidays I I -i 1 i i.