Today Punjab ‘ਚ ਆਉਣ ਵਾਲਾ ਵੱਡਾ ਸੰਕਟ human being doing 12,000 years ago
What was the human being doing 12,000 years ago? Certainly not living in apartments. They must have been living in caves. But by this time, humans had begun a nomadic life and started building hut–like shelters.
In Heligubbi mountains, a volcano that had been dormant for 12,000 years erupted. And within two days, its ash clouds traveled from Africa all the way to India.
Where are volcanoes in India? Barren Island — Andaman and Nicobar.
It’s not as if a volcano in Ethiopia erupted without warning. Usually, before eruptions, there are signs: changes in underground pressure of lava, smoke emission, and small earthquakes. Earlier in July this year, smoke had started emerging from another volcano in the same mountain range. The ground bulged due to pressure changes. People moved to safer locations.
But ash blankets have covered villages hundreds of kilometers away. Grazing land for cattle has vanished. Locals said the eruption felt like a huge bomb had exploded. The economy around that region must have suffered massively.
The Heligubbi volcano slept for 12,000 years — and when it woke up, its ash quickly reached India. Ash clouds are dangerous for airplanes. Many flights were canceled. DGCA issued warnings. Aircraft engines run at very high temperatures, and volcanic ash melts inside them, damaging machinery. The ash sticks to turbine blades.
Volcanic ash contains high amounts of sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide. Along with that, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, and traces of carbon monoxide are released.
Delhi’s air is already polluted — and now another challenge. The ash has risen about 14 km into the atmosphere and has traveled from Ethiopia to different countries around the world — crossing the Red Sea, reaching Yemen, Oman, Pakistan, and finally Delhi.
While talking about the effects, we must also understand the geographical and historical facts.
Ethiopia’s Afar region is considered a hotspot for active volcanoes. Heligubbi lies here — the volcano that has erupted after 12,000 years. Today, the whole world is discussing it, videos are viral. When this volcano erupted, the world had already transformed dramatically — and its visuals instantly went viral on millions of mobile phones.
To understand this event, we must understand geography and history.
This volcanic region lies on the edge of the East African Rift Zone.
What is the East African Rift Zone?
The Earth is divided into massive tectonic plates — giant slabs of rock floating on molten magma. They move only a few centimeters or millimeters a year — yet the Earth shakes, which we call an earthquake. Volcanoes often form on the boundaries of these plates. Some plates lie under land (continental) and some under oceans (oceanic). Sometimes they collide, sometimes slide past each other, or sometimes drift apart.
What is happening in Africa falls under the third category — the plates are drifting apart. The African plate is slowly splitting into two parts. On one side lies the Red Sea, and thousands of kilometers south is Zimbabwe. This 6,000 km-long crack is known as the East African Rift Zone.
This rift has formed a gigantic valley because the African Plate and Somali Plate are drifting away. Water has collected in low-lying areas, forming lakes and wetlands — home to millions of species.
When plates move apart, pathways open for lava to rise — which is why so many volcanoes exist in this region, including Heligubbi — which erupted this Sunday after 12,000 years.
We keep hearing — “erupted after 10,000 years,” “after 12,000 years.”
So what was happening 12,000 years ago?
That was the period called Holocene — when the Earth warmed after a long Ice Age, melting glaciers. Some say Holocene continues even today, though now this epoch is being called Anthropocene — because humans have altered the planet dramatically.
In the last 200 years, humans have wreaked havoc on Earth:
destroyed forests, polluted the climate, wiped out countless species —
changed the planet so much that it’s collapsing under the weight of civilization.
Ice melted, climate softened — and human imagination awakened.
Stone tools were created, farming began.
Humans started expanding into new territories.
Populations increased — and migrations began again in search of fertile land.
The human journey outward had begun from Africa around 65,000 years ago.
India saw modern humans around that time — cave art in Bhimbetka, small shelters, animal domestication.
We are not experts in every subject, nor in this one. But Tony Joseph’s book Early Indians explains this — you should read it.
How interesting that even today India’s relationship with Africa continues.
The seed of India’s freedom struggle sprouted in Africa — Gandhi tested his satyagraha there before bringing it to India.
Just like volcanic ash has arrived from Africa today —
Shakira’s World Cup anthem also arrived years ago!
And days before the eruption, India’s Prime Minister Modi was in Johannesburg for a G20 summit.
Nature’s forces cannot be controlled.
Earthquakes — unstoppable.
Tsunamis — unstoppable.
Humans have drawn borders, created nations — but nature laughs at them.
Ash clouds traveled 4,000 km from Ethiopia to Delhi in two days.
In Darbhanga, Amit Shah said they will make the Kosi region flood-free in 5 years. If he wishes, maybe he could even stop volcanoes? When they stop the Kosi River, do go and check it yourself. Before 12,000 years, 5 years are nothing. You won’t even notice when disaster arrives.
Amit Shah can say anything — 5 years ago he said Assam would be flood-free. Go and see.
Had Amit Shah been in Ethiopia, he would have said:
“In 5 years, we will make it volcano-free.”
And people would believe it.
We gave his example because for Earth, 12,000 years is like 12 seconds — and for our leaders, 5 years becomes like 12,000 years.
Humans have tried to stop floods for centuries — but floods never stopped.
We polluted rivers and now claim we will clean them. Huge amounts of money wasted and still rivers remain dirty. Some “heroes” just bring clean water from elsewhere into city ponds and pat their backs — like in Delhi.
Who can be a hero against nature?
Volcanic eruptions shock us again:
In front of Earth and nature’s power, humans are nothing.
What humans can do?
Build a ropeway above a volcano, take selfies, and feel proud.
When lava stops flowing, humans trek over volcanoes —
just to feel victorious over Earth.
But when a volcano erupts 4,500 km away —
Delhi and Mumbai flights are grounded.
Volcanic explosions are so powerful that they fix nitrogen in the air — breaking nitrogen molecules and forming nitrates useful in natural processes. Humans learned to replicate this only in the 20th century — through the 1909 Haber Process to create ammonia.
Volcanic ash is toxic — but also fertilizes soil.
Volcanoes near the sea can create new islands. Sometimes islands vanish.
Lava cools into rock, releasing minerals.
Like earthquakes, volcanoes are also of different types.
Heligubbi is a shield volcano.
Its lava doesn’t explode violently but flows like a river down slopes — you must have seen such visuals in science programs.
In 2022, Mauna Loa in Hawaii erupted similarly.
But surprisingly, this shield volcano produced enormous ash — scientists are puzzled. Maybe the region has not been well-studied.
If Amit Shah can stop floods in 5 years — then I hope you viewers will overlook small shortcomings in this video. I trust your generosity.
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