Nyiragongo Volcano in Zaire (Congo), Africa, began a major lava eruption on January 17, 2002. A active lava lake had been accumulating in the summit crater from intermittent eruptions that began in 1982. A previous lava lake in the deep summit crater of Nyiragongo drained suddenly from flank fissures in January 1977, releasing extremely fluid lava that moved downslope at up to 60 km/hour, killing about 70 people. The 2002 eruption appears to be similar but even larger than the 1977 event. Very fluid lava flowed through the streets of Goma, a city of 500,000 people and poured into Lake Kivu. Photo copyright Agence France-Presse. See eruption data in Smithsonian/USGS weekly report.

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