A volcano that had been inactive for approximately 12,000 years has recently erupted, covering a village in ash and soot and startling residents with the explosive sound resembling a bomb.
This eruption, the first in modern times for this volcano, named Hayli Gubbi and situated in Ethiopia near the Eritrean border, emitted massive ash clouds into the sky, leaving the nearby village of Afdera coated in dust.
The volcanic activity lasted for several hours on a Sunday morning, with ash clouds spreading beyond the borders of the country, reaching as far as the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, and India.
Local resident Ahmed Abdela described the eruption as a sudden bomb explosion, causing ash to cover many villages and leaving their animals with limited food sources. While there have been no reported human or livestock casualties, the ash fallout has disrupted travel across neighboring nations and continents.
Despite the widespread disturbance, Ethiopia’s air travel operations remain unaffected, although several airlines such as Air India, IndiGo, Akasa, and KLM have canceled flights as a precautionary measure due to the volcanic ash.
The director general of the India Meteorological Department, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, mentioned that the eruption’s impact reaches altitudes between 8.5km and 15km above sea level, affecting satellite functions and flight operations. However, he reassured that it is unlikely to affect weather conditions or air quality and revealed that the ash cloud has already reached northern India and is moving towards China.
The private agency Skymet Weather highlighted the challenge of assessing the extent of volcanic ash contamination caused by this abrupt eruption. GP Sharma, president of meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather, explained that monitoring volcanic contamination requires advanced preparations, which were lacking in this case due to the sudden eruption.
Regarding the dispersion of the volcanic ash, Skymet Weather stated the difficulty in predicting the timeline for dissipation. However, the IMD forecasts that Delhi’s skies should be clear of ash by Tuesday evening.
