“Hale!” “Halele!”
In early April 1977, the earth began to shake in Hambou, at the foot of Karthala. On the south-west flank of the volcano, only a few hundred metres up, a fissure opened with a thunderous roar, and a fountain of fire shot up above the fields.
The lava began to move. It was not a fast-flowing river, but a wall of burning blocks that advanced with a crackling sound, knocking down trees and filling the air with the smell of sulphur. The people of Singani and the neighbouring villages gathered what they could and fled: more than four thousand people were evacuated.
The flow split into two arms. One ravaged part of Singani, the other part of the neighbouring village of M'Djoyesi; then they joined up again further down and ran on to the sea. For weeks, the rock smoked.
When the inhabitants were at last able to return, they walked through a landscape they no longer recognised. But in the middle of the black blocks, their mosque was standing, intact. “The lava moved aside for it,” said the elders, and there was long prayer that day.
Singani was rebuilt. And every year, on 5 April, the village commemorates the eruption, the fear, the flight… and the mosque that Karthala's fire did not touch.
What we know about it
The April 1977 eruption is the most destructive of Karthala's historical lava flows. A fissure opened on the south-west flank, at an altitude of about 360 metres; the flow split into two branches that partly destroyed Singani and M'Djoyesi, joined up again further down and reached the sea. More than 4,000 people were evacuated. Returning several weeks later, the inhabitants found their mosques intact. The villages have been rebuilt, and the eruption is commemorated every year on 5 April.
For volcanologists, a flow that splits follows the lie of the land; for the inhabitants, the spared mosque was a sign. The story of the miracle has joined the old tales about the volcano's fits of anger, such as The ring of the Queen of Sheba. Read also: Volcanoes and landforms.
Further reading
- Outside view Patrick Bachèlery et al., Structure and Eruptive History of Karthala Volcano, 2016. In Active Volcanoes of the Southwest Indian Ocean, Springer.
- Outside view Journal of Applied Volcanology, Éruptions historiques du Karthala et leurs effets (tableau 7), 2020. BioMed Central.