No one left behind: Adding volcanoes to Early Warnings for All

Volcanoes: many hazards and risks, yet little attention

Volcanoes are some of the most dramatic forces of nature, generating lava flows, ash clouds, toxic gases, and even tsunamis that pose threats to agriculture, infrastructure, and millions of humans - and can even influence climate. Yet, despite these multiple threats, volcanic hazards haven't received the same attention as floods or storms in the global Early Warnings for All (EW4All) initiative. That began to change at a recent workshop in Geneva, which I was proud to be part of.

A global workshop with a local message

The "Advancing Volcanic Hazards in Early Warnings for All" workshop, hosted at the World Meteorological Organization right after the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) Assembly, brought together more than 100 experts. The goal was clear: to ensure volcanic hazards are properly included in EW4All's global disaster risk reduction efforts.

In my presentation, I called back the fact within Goma city and its surrounding areas, at least 2.5 million people live in the shadow of the Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira volcanoes. These communities face constant risks: lava flows cutting across neighbourhoods, toxic gases seeping silently into homes and children's playgrounds, intermittent gas and ash emissions reducing air quality, as well as continuous volcanic product inputs that reduce rain-, surface-, and groundwater quality. Add in Lake Kivu, which holds vast amounts of dissolved carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane that could suffocate inhabitants in the case that they are abruptly released into the atmosphere.

The lava flows from the Nyiragongo May 2021 eruption destroyed ~3,600 houses while another 1,000 were severely damaged - causing at least 30,000 persons to be in need of shelter and other humanitarian assistance. The volcanic eruption further caused the death of 38 persons, disrupted the water and electricity infrastructures supply in Goma and the surrounding areas: an estimated 550,000 persons lost access to water. The worst-case scenario of a possible eruption with active vents inside Goma city or Lake Kivu led local authorities to evacuate estimated 400,000 people.

Challenges on the ground

The challenge is that Goma also sits in a region of ongoing conflict. Equipment is often stolen or damaged, and there's a lack of sufficient qualified human resources and infrastructures - hence building a reliable early warning system is anything but straightforward. This makes international support essential.

Through the Virunga Geohazards Supersite, as a part of GEO's Geohazard Supersites and Natural Laboratories (GSNL) initiative, a pre-disaster situation analysis of Nyiragongo volcanic hazards, and risk assessment were carried out back in mid-2018; hazard, risk and vulnerability maps were produced and intended to support informed decision making of the involved stakeholders, with reference to disaster preparedness and disaster management.

Later, these maps were used by the local authorities and the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in managing the Nyiragongo May 22nd 2021 eruption and the subsequent humanitarian crisis. Since the establishment of the Virunga Supersite in November 2017, earth observation (EO) data began being delivered - free of charge - to the Goma Volcano Observatory. The archived data and the near real-time data during the volcanic eruption were processed by the Virunga Supersite scientific community to support local authorities in making science-based decision in their disaster risk management.

But beyond access to EO data, much more is needed - especially local infrastructure, capacity building, and, above all, sustained funding.

Living with volcanoes: How data saves lives in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

A step forward in EW4All

The workshop wasn't just talk; it marked a real step forward. Participants agreed on the need for context-specific solutions, structured alert systems, better governance, and global investment. It was encouraging to see volcanic hazards formally recognized as a critical part of EW4All.

My biggest delivered takeaway message is this: communities like those in Goma cannot wait, things must speed up! They need working early warning systems now, and everyone must be included with none left behind. By putting volcanoes firmly on the EW4All agenda, this workshop was more than a discussion, it was a commitment to action. These actions are the kind of progress that saves lives, and people in Goma are impatient to see them implemented.

Dr Charles Balagizi, Researcher and Scientific Director of Goma Volcano Observatory (DR Congo) Virunga Geohazards Supersite Coordinator, is a Geochemist and Geohazards researcher working for the Goma Volcano Observatory, in the DR Congo with work focusing on Nyiragongo and Nyamulagira volcanoes monitoring and associated hazards and risks assessment and monitoring in the western branch of the East African Rift. He is presently the Scientific Director of the Goma Volcano Observatory. Dr Balagizi is an associated researcher at the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV, Roma) and also coordinates the Virunga Volcanoes Supersite which is a GEO-GSNL voluntary international partnership aiming to improve, through an open science approach, geophysical scientific research and geohazard assessment in support of Disaster Risk Reduction. This is the first Supersite established on the African continent with the aim of putting together local and international scientists and agencies, support them access - free of charge- to Earth Observatory data and potentially to equipment for ground-based data collection, as well as the building of a pool of collaboration. Dr Balagizi's career has been featured on Nature, and his work included in The Handbook on Early Warning Systems and Early Action in Fragile, Conflict, and Violent (FCV) Contexts.