On Monday, June 20, I sent out a tweet noting that a major volcano had erupted resulting in an earthquake in Ethiopia and Eritrea. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a total of 14 light to moderate earthquakes in the border area on Sunday evening, with the strongest being two 5.7-magnitude earthquakes, both centered in Eritrea. The Dubbi Volcano is located in a tectonic triple junction, known as the Danakil depression that spans parts of both nations and whose ridges form the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, may form a new ocean and split Africa in two 10 million years from now.
With what was seen in Haiti, Japan and Chile, I would have expected some coverage of this event on major news outlets. However, there has been little, if any, even regarding reports of the resulting damage or any casualties.
But I am reminded that this country turns a blind eye to Africa, except when it desired to kidnap people for slave labor or when they need valuable resources not found in Europe or the Americas. Earthquakes in Africa are rare, but have happened before in the area, such as the one recorded on July 20, 1884. Then, too, there was no report of fatalities. There also was a major eruption on September 25, 2005, which killed 250 head of livestock and forced thousands of residents to flee. In August 2007, lava flow caused hundreds more to flee. –torrance t. stephens, ph.d.
