UNITED NATIONS ASSESSES THREAT OF DAM COLLAPSE IN CAMEROON

UNITED NATIONS ASSESSES THREAT OF DAM COLLAPSE IN CAMEROON

NEW YORK, 27 September (OCHA) -- The United Nations has dispatched a team of experts to Lake Nyos, in Cameroon’s Northwest province, following reports that a natural dam on the lake could potentially collapse.

Following a request for assistance from the Government, the joint United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)/Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) Unit in Cameroon has mobilized a two-man team of experts from the Netherlands Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management.

The United Nations team has visited the dam, in conjunction with the Ministry of Territorial Administration, and is conducting a technical assessment of the current situation.  Recommendations will be made to the national authorities.  A preliminary report is expected within the next few days.

The potential for damage if the dam were to collapse is severe.  Not only would tens of thousands of individuals living downstream in Cameroon and Nigeria be affected by the ensuing flooding, but there is also a possibility that toxic carbon dioxide gas stored in the deeper layers of the lake could be released.  A similar release of carbon dioxide gas in 1986 killed more than 1,700 people.

For further information, please call: Stephanie Bunker, OCHA-New York, tel: 917 367 5126, mobile: 917 892 1679; Kristen Knutson, OCHA-New York, tel: 917 367 9262; or Elizabeth Byrs, OCHA-Geneva, tel: +41 22 917 2653, mobile: +41 79 473 4570.

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For information media • not an official record