A volcano that had been inactive for over 12,000 years has erupted, covering a nearby village with ash and soot. Residents likened the sound of the eruption to an explosion. This volcanic activity, the first in modern times for this specific volcano, released massive ash plumes into the sky, coating the village of Afdera in dust.
The Hayli Gubbi volcano in Ethiopia’s Afar region, near the Eritrean border, erupted for several hours on a Sunday morning. The ash clouds from the eruption spread beyond the country, reaching as far as the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, and India.
Local resident Ahmed Abdela described the event as akin to a sudden bomb explosion, with smoke and ash filling the air. While there have been no reported human or livestock casualties, many villages have been covered in ash, posing challenges for the animals’ food supply.
The eruption led to significant travel disruptions in neighboring countries and continents. Although Ethiopia, a major aviation hub in Africa, did not cancel flights, several airlines, including Air India, IndiGo, Akasa, and KLM, took precautionary measures by canceling flights due to the volcanic ash.
Air India canceled 11 flights on Monday and Tuesday, while Akasa suspended flights to Jeddah, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi on the same days. The director general of the India Meteorological Department, Mrutyunjay Mohapatra, stated that the volcanic ash has affected altitudes between 8.5km and 15km above sea level, impacting satellite functions and flight operations without significantly affecting weather conditions or air quality. The ash cloud has moved towards northern India and is expected to head towards China.
Skymet Weather, a private agency, highlighted the challenges in measuring the extent of volcanic ash contamination caused by the eruption due to the lack of preparation time. GP Sharma, president of meteorology and climate change at Skymet Weather, emphasized the importance of deploying sensors in advance to monitor contamination accurately.
The dispersal timeframe for the volcanic ash remains uncertain, but the IMD forecasts that Delhi’s skies will clear from the ash by Tuesday evening.