Attention to the problems posed by natural hazards in West and Central Africa was brought into sharp focus by the deaths of an estimated 1700 people in the valleys to the north of Lake Nyos in 1986. Prior to that the only, well documented, major natural catastrophe was the 1983 earthquake which killed at least 275 people in northwestern Guinea. Though we would not wish to appear to suggest that the 1939 Accra earthquake, which killed 16 people, or the Lake Monoun disaster, which killed 37 people in 1984, were not significant events for the areas concerned. The full horror of the Lake Nyos gas...
Attention to the problems posed by natural hazards in West and Central Africa was brought into sharp focus by the deaths of an estimated 1700 people i...
