Lake Nyos survivors express desire to return home
By Njodzefe Nestor and Etafor Judith
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| The 1986 killer lake now free of the Toxic CO2 |
On the night of Thursday August 21, 1986, Lake Nyos which is
found in Menchum Division, North West Region, released a lethal cloud of carbon
dioxide that swept through the lower villages of Nyos, Cha Subum, Kam, Munji,
and Djingbe killing more than 1700 people and thousands of domestic and wild
animals. About 4,000 inhabitants fled the area and many of them developed
respiratory problems, burns and paralysis as a result of the gas.
In a
bit to resettle the displaced population, the construction of permanent sites
for the survivors by the government commenced immediately after the
International Conference on the Lake Nyos gas disaster which was held in Yaounde from 18 to 20 March
1987.
Also,
the government of Cameroon and the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP
initiated a project baptised “Securisation and Socio-economic Reintegration of
Lake Nyos Area” aimed at degassing the lake.
The
first degassing pipe was installed in 2001 to send out the excess CO2. Two
supplementary degassing pipes; each with the capacity four times more than that
of 2001, were installed in the lake in 2010 and 2011.
In 2016
during the conference dubbed “Lakes Nyos and Monoun gas disasters 30 years
after”, the Director of the Cameroon’s Institute of Geological and Mining
Research, better known in its French Acronym as IRGM, Dr. Joseph Victor Hell,
said the lakes are safe because the degassing projects has reduced the CO2
accumulations in the lakes.
Although
lakeNyos has been declared safe, the victims have not been authorized to return
to their villages. Moreover, 31 years after the disaster, life in the
resettlement camps have reportedly not the best.
Inhabitants in Upkwa, Buabua, Kimbi 1, Kimbi 2, Esu, Ipalim,
KumFutu 1, Kumfutu 2 and Yemnge camps have decried the horrible living
conditions and are calling on government to facilitate their reinsertion back
to their initial communities.
“It is
30 years already and the structures are dilapidated. The small houses are not comfortable. There
are no schools for our children and grandchildren in the camps. Those that
struggle to attend school do not longer have support from the government.
People have to trek long distances to fetch for water. Where we are settled is
not as fertile as Nyos; the soil does not yield much crops as in Nyos.
Moreover, home is home; I have the nostalgia of going back to my place of
origin. It is so many years since the explosion took place but I still have the
yearning to go back to my village, ” lamented one of the survivors.
This
was corroborated by Julius Kese a teacher in Wum. “Today, I am a man of 38 and
we are not yet authorized to go back to our land of origin. We live like refugees
in our own country. Many victims have abandoned the camps because they are old
with no electricity and potable water. We used to receive petty state
assistance. The government gave us subventions until I finished Class 7. But,
since 1990 many of us have received nothing. When we began living in Wum, my
elder brother started by selling kerosene. From kerosene, we moved greater to a
provision store. I struggled to further my education. Today, I am a teacher.
But, what is inappropriate is that victims are no longer receiving state
subventions but are highly taxed in the petty businesses they do. In Nyos, we
had rich harvests and fed well; the reason I want to go back” he observed.
Discussing
on the plight of victims, a Red Cross worker on disaster management in Wum,
PaulycapNdze, said the situation of victims is still at stake:
“Victims
keep on complaining; many have condemned the fact that although the state has
not yet authorized them to return, it is no longer giving assistance. The state
assisted victims with medication (to the injured), food, soaps, mattresses,
blankets and a grinding mill in each camp but stopped 4 years after the
calamity. But, even when aid (more of seeds for cropping) was given again
during the 21st anniversary of the disaster, many victims complained of not
receiving it. Those who accepted to have received the aid complained it was too
small. So, I don’t know if the aid was insufficient or it was not well
channeled to the victims. Generally, the condition of the victims is still regrettable.
Some are still not able to live normal lives. The camps are dilapidated. Not all children in the camps are schooling.
There is a general cry to return because of the fertility of the soil.”
Pointing
out government’s misdirected policy, Madam Siy Joanna one of the survivors
regretted that the government has built comfortable inns for tourists around
the lake whereas victims are living in dilapidated camps without even water and
electricity.
“The
government should have first thought of satisfying the victims before the
tourists. Why build good structures for tourists whereas victims are suffering
in the poor camps?” she questioned again.
In
addition, she said the government has given more humane treatment to the
victims of the Nsam fire disaster; (of February 14, 1998, by not just providing
basic humanitarian aid such as school aid, mattresses and food but providing
big funds for the construction of comfortable houses in resettled areas.
“If it is not misdirected priority, how can
government give more humane treatment to people who were out to steal petrol
and were affected than to people who were affected by an explosion of a gas? I
see this illogical” she added.
