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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Lake Nyos gas explosions: different perceptions of the phenomenon
Author:Nkwi, P.ISNI
Year:1990
Periodical:Discovery and Innovation (ISSN 1015-079X)
Volume:2
Issue:2
Period:June
Pages:7-19
Language:English
Notes:biblio. refs., ills.
Geographic terms:Cameroon
West Africa
Subjects:volcanic eruptions
myths (form)
science and technology
Nyos, Lake (Cameroon)
Abstract:On 21 August 1986, Lake Nyos (a volcanic lake in the North-West Province of Cameroon) exploded sending poisonous gas down upon the villages of Cha, Nyos and Su-Bum. While the causes of the explosion still have to be established definitively, the immediate consequences left approximately 1,788 people dead, with more than 4,000 survivors homeless. An examination of how the people around Nyos perceived the gas explosion (the explosion was caused by lake spirits; ancestral anger against the new chief for selling land to outsiders was the cause; God (Allah) was teaching a lesson to man in this region; there were rumours about a neutron bomb tested in Lake Nyos and about activities executed by enemies of the Cameroon regime) is followed by an analysis of lake myths in order to find out whether these were not at first built on reality and persisted as myths through time and space. The traditions of various ethnic groups seem to indicate that lakes played a role in shaping their ideological and cosmological ideas. Special attention is paid to three traditions, namely that of the Kom, the Oku, and the Ba'ni or Chamba. The last section of the paper addresses the problem of the resettlement of the survivors of the Nyos gas explosion and strategies for an integrated development of the area. Bibliogr.
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