After 12 thousand years of silence, Haile Gobi volcano has awakened. Located in northeastern Ethiopia, the volcano erupted on Sunday (11/23), according to the Global Volcanism Program run by the Smithsonian Institution in North America. The last time this giant showed signs of life was at the end of the Ice Age, a very long period that makes this event historic and surprising.
The Haile Gobi volcano is located in the Afar region, about 800 kilometers northeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, close to the border with Eritrea. It is located in the Rift Valley, an area that witnesses major geological disturbances as a result of the meeting of tectonic plates, and is characterized by intense volcanic activity.
The Smithsonian’s Global Volcanism Program said it has no record of Haile Gobi eruptions since the Holocene epoch, a period that began about 12,000 years ago, at the end of the last ice age.
Volcanologist Simon Karn, a professor at the University of Michigan, confirmed on the Bluesky platform that the Haile Gobi “did not record any eruptions during the Holocene epoch.”
According to the Toulouse Volcanic Ash Monitoring Center (VAAC), the Haile Gobi volcano, which reaches a height of about 500 meters, erupted on Sunday, spewing thick plumes of smoke that reached a height of 14 kilometers.
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The phenomenon lasted for several hours and ended on the same day. The ash flew over Yemen, Oman, India and also northern Pakistan, according to VAAC.
In videos posted on social media, a thick column of white smoke can be seen rising toward the sky.
The authorities have not yet announced any casualties, but the volcano is located in a remote and sparsely populated area.
When asked about possible casualties and the number of displaced people, the authorities in the Afar region have not yet responded.
Read more reports like this on the RFI website, a partner of Capitals.