Hanang avalanche: ‘Hot mud‘ claims by villagers ‘plausible’

13Dec 2023
The Guardian Reporter
News
The Guardian
Hanang avalanche: ‘Hot mud‘ claims by villagers ‘plausible’

WHILE scientists can’t speak of a volcanic eruption as linked with the wet landslide disaster on the slopes of Mount Hanang, claims of hot mud from villagers can only be linked with substantial volcanic activity, a scientist has affirmed.

 

Dr Ben Beeckmans, a Belgian volcanologist with extensive experience in the East African Rift Valley including eastern DRC Mountains who once lived in Arusha, issued this precaution in an interview on the incident.

 

“It is probably way too soon to speak about an eruption, even though the word “hot mud” as described by some villagers, tends to indicate there is some activity underneath.

 

He pointed at the lack of an active network of seismic monitoring in the country, thus making it impossible to state what kind of activity there was, its magnitude or link with the landslide and mudflows.

 

The volcanologist, a member of the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI), when contacted about the mudflow disaster, said he had not heard of the incident, all the same critical of the ’lack of interest’ on threats related to volcanic activity.

He directs an independent research outfit, Ecoscience Ltd, where he recalls that years ago, he gave many lectures to local organizations in Tanzania but nobody seemed to be interested.

“So, what can one do? Only suffer the consequences when they arrive,” he lamented, affirming intent to visit the country in the second quarter of next year, and most likely go over current or visible volcanic hazards. Authorities need to arrange the logistics for those interested, he specified.

The expert has in the past advised that a seismic net on Meru and Kilimanjaro mountains was a necessity for monitoring the still lumbering volcanoes, authoring “An Introduction to the Tectonics and the Volcanic of Northern Tanzania.”

With its peak at 3,420 meters above sea level, Mount Hanang is the country’s fourth highest mountain after Kilimanjaro, Meru and Loolmalasin, located in Ngorongoro district, Arusha Region, with Mount Hanang protruding above Lake Balangida in Manyara Region.

Meanwhile the number of people who lost their lives from the mudflow disaster had reached 87 by the end of last week.

Dr Beeckmans affirms that the last major volcanic activity occurred upwards of 9000 years ago at Mount Meru, with major debris avalanches (landslides) documented by geological researchers which “remains extremely visible today on its eastern side of the mountain.”

/ends/jz/sm

Top Stories