Surveillance difficile du volcan Nyiragongo en RD Congo.

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Afin de mettre en sécurité les équipements et les scientifiques chargés de surveiller l'activité des volcans Nyiragongo et Nyamulagira, l'Observatoire volcanologique de Goma a dû démonter plusieurs stations sismologiques situées dans des zones occupées par les rebelles du M23. - L'info en continu  https://buzzplus.fr/ Infos, news & actualités - L'information internationale en direct.

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00:00 In order to secure the equipment and the scientists in charge of monitoring the activity of the Nihiragongo and Niemulagira volcanoes,

00:06 the Goma Volcanological Observatory had to dismantle several seismological stations located in areas occupied by the M23 rebels.

00:13 The Nihiragongo, placed under yellow surveillance, is among the most active in Africa.

00:18 In case of eruption, it can endanger the densely populated area that lives at its foot.

00:23 It is considered the most dangerous volcano in Africa, but its surveillance is now in jeopardy.

00:30 At an altitude of 3,470 meters, the Nihiragongo, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo,

00:36 about 15 kilometers north of the city of Goma and Lake Kivu, and west of the Rwanda border,

00:42 is usually monitored by 12 stations of the Goma Volcanological Observatory (OVG).

00:46 There are now only 5 left.

00:49 The other 7, stations responsible for studying earthquakes related to the movement of magma in the ground,

00:55 have indeed been closed and dismantled for security reasons due to the occupation of the areas where they were installed by the M23 rebels.

01:01 This rebel militia, mostly made up of Tutsis and supported by the UN by the neighboring Rwanda,

01:07 took up arms again at the end of 2021 after several years of sleep and seized vast areas of the North Kivu region, in eastern Rwanda.

01:15 While Kinshasa accuses Rwanda and its M23 suppliers of wanting to lay hands on the mines of East Congolese,

01:22 the M23 states, as for it, to defend a threatened fringe of the population and claims negotiations that the Congo Air Force refuses,

01:29 excluding discussing with "terrorists".

01:31 Since October 2023, clashes have intensified,

01:36 especially in the Nihiragongo region, where the eponymous volcano is located,

01:40 between the M23 and local fighters, suppliers of the Congolese army.

01:43 Placed in yellow vigilance, alert level to which it was maintained on March 18 by the OVG,

01:49 the Nihiragongo must be subjected to reinforced surveillance,

01:52 just like its twin in the Viringa Park, the Niemulagira.

01:56 The OVG, deprived of some of its observation data, is worried.

02:00 Just like the populations living nearby, marked by the last eruption of the Nihiragongo in May 2021.

02:07 A surprise that even the observatory could not see coming.

02:10 The lava flows had caused the death of 32 people and made more than 500,000 displaced.

02:16 Each time the unsafe situation degenerates, the volcanoes are under surveillance.

02:21 "Some of our stations have found themselves in safe areas,

02:25 so we preferred to disinstall them and bring them back to the OVG for their safety",

02:30 explains Charles Balagisy, director of the OVG at the TV5Monde micro,

02:34 specifying that the seven disinstalled stations are seismology stations.

02:38 Those of geochemistry, allowing to monitor gas emissions,

02:42 and those used to control the deformation of the soils are,

02:45 for the moment, still operational.

02:47 But without these seismology stations, one can have observation bias,

02:52 explains Benoit Smets, volcanologist at the Royal Museum of Central Africa,

02:57 Africa Museum, Belgian Institute of Scientific Research,

03:00 and at the University of Brussels, who worked for several years alongside the OVG.

03:04 "When you want to locate the source of earthquakes,

03:08 the fact of no longer having closed systems, with instruments all around the volcano,

03:12 increases the error of location, and one can underestimate or overestimate its activity".

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