Volcano Tremors Growing In Comoros Island Chain (Indian Ocean) -

[hatrack]

Moroni - Earth tremors from Comoros' volcano Mount Karthala grew stronger and more frequent, residents said on Sunday, forcing thousands of nervous families to sleep outside overnight for fear their homes might collapse.

The Indian Ocean archipelago's largest island, Grand Comore, was put on red alert after Mount Karthala - one of the world's largest active volcanos - began to glow red and emit suffocating fumes late on Friday.

The 2 361-metre Mount Karthala dominates Grand Comore, but its eruptions, which happen on average every 11 years, have rarely caused a major disaster. But while lava levels inside the crater have subsided, earth tremors have become more frequent.

Hamidou Soule, a geologist who leads the Karthala surveillance centre, said tremors were lasting up to five seconds and had reached five on the Richter scale. "The lava and the gases remain trapped and are looking to crack through the mountain. It seems the main chimney is blocked," he said. "The frequency of the tremors shows that a (lava) flow could happen in any part of the island."

EDIT

http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=143&art_id=qw1168771501100B256

[IronScorpio5]

1. Shit....ive been there

beautiful place.

[NMDemDist2]

2. welcome to DU IronScorpio5!

:hi:

[Warpy]

3. It sounds like they'd better consider evacuating now

They can always go back if the activity stops.

There was no mention of harmonic quakes, though. I suppose they're not set up to measure those well enough.

But holy Krakotoa, this sounds pretty dangerous.