How A Silent Natural Disaster Nearly Wiped Out A Whole Village And Their Livestock
3500 livestock were killed The blue lake turned into rusty brown color How A Silent Natural Disaster Nearly Wiped Out A Whole Village And Their Livestock 1,746 people and 3,500 animals perished on August 21, 1986, in northwest Cameroon from a strange event called limnic eruption. Before the disaster, Lake Nyos had been quiet for a long time. Cameroon is a country in West Africa. Farmers and herders who moved around knew the lake was big, still, and blue. The eruption caused the sudden release of hundreds of tons of carbon dioxide that suffocated humans and livestock. The Deadly Eruption From The Lake It is unknown what caused the severe outgassing. Most geologists assume a landslide happened, however some believe a tiny volcanic explosion occurred on the lake's bed. A third explanation is that the overturn was caused by cool rains falling on one side of the lake. Others believe there was a minor earthquake, but given witnesses reported no shakes on the morning of the acciden