Posted on: Monday, July 15, 2002

Volcano center in Hilo trains Congo scientists

By Hugh Clark
Advertiser Big Island Bureau

HILO, Hawai'i — The Big Island's role in international volcanology is being boosted by veteran scientist Jack Lockwood of Volcano, who recently returned from a United Nations mission to Africa.

Lockwood was in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where he helped bring two scientists here for a post-graduate training session at University of Hawai'i-Hilo.

Lockwood, who works as an independent consultant following his career at the observatory, took on his first U.N. assignment in April.

He went to Nyiragongo volcano to advise workers on how to deal with lava flows that have nearly wiped out the town of Goma, leaving 100,000 people homeless.

No one has calculated the human loss because of the rapidly moving flows. People had no time to gather their livestock or remove their belongings.

Lockwood said he was taken back by the way the Goma victims accepted their fate. "They asked for nothing," he said. "They were just amazing."

While in Africa, Lockwood helped scientists Wafula Mifundu Dieudonne and Kavotha Kalendi obtain visas to come to UH-Hilo for this summer's session conducted by the Center for the Study of Active Volcanoes.

The UH-Hilo training session teaches foreign scientists how to monitor volcanoes and interpret the data. It stresses field work and introduces mid-career scientists to high-tech tools.

Also attending this year's session were volcanologists from Costa Rica, Peru and Nicaragua.