LAVA 329 Figure Distribution of the lava flows of Kilauea in the last 100 years Presently, eruption is occurring at the Puu Oo vent in the east rift zone From 1983 to 2003, about 2.3 km3 of lava erupted and covered an area of more than 110 km2 filled up Kamimu bay The lava spread slowly and people could evacuate safety, but more than 170 structures were destroyed The lavas have added more than a square kilometre of new land to Hawaii Island, the largest of the Hawaiian island chain for a lava flow Over 70 people were killed by the lava flow In January 2002, another major flank eruption occurred, and streams of lava spread over the centre of the city of Goma, dividing it in two More than 40 people were killed by this eruption (see Engineering Geology: Natural and Anthropogenic Geohazards) Nyiragongo (Congo) Lava flowing from the Nyiragongo volcano in eastern Congo has also been disastrous Nyiragongo is a stratovolcano that erupts predominantly nephelinitic lavas, with very low viscosity, and it is one of most active volcanoes in the East African rift zone This volcano is famous for the active lava lake in the summit crater A major fissure eruption occurred in 1977 on the south flank, which drained the lava lake in the summit caldera: very fluid lava rapidly covered several square kilometres and destroyed some villages Because the lava was of very low viscosity and the eruption rate was very high, lava quickly ran down the steep slope of the volcano The lava travelled about 10 km within 20 and reached Goma, one of the major cities of Congo The maximum speed of the lava was more than 50 km h in the vicinity of the fissure, which is extraordinarily fast Etna (Sicily) People living on the flanks of Etna are forever fighting against lava Mount Etna is the largest stratovolcano in Europe and has erupted more than 150 times in the last 2700 years The flank areas of Etna have frequently been invaded by lava flows during its long history In 1966, a major fissure eruption occurred on the south-eastern flank Lava erupted from a 12 km long fissure towards the city of Catania Some people dug into the levee at the side of the lava flow to try to change the flow direction, but their effort ended in failure In March 1983, a fissure on the southern flank began to produce a’a’ lava, which destroyed several buildings The lava flow advanced more than km, and three towns were threatened by the lava by the end of April To change the direction of the lava flow, people tried to breach the side levee of lava and