Volcano Eruption Hit Mount Nyiragongo, Displaced Over 3,000 People in DR Congo

By theGazetteNGR

Editorinchief

Posted: May 23, 2021 at 12:15 PM, Updated: September 21, 2022 at 7:46 AM

A din of people and honking horns could be heard in videos of the red-glowing eruption shared on social media, and Rwandan officials said that more than 3,500 Congolese people had sought refuge across the border in nearby Rwanda.

A highly active volcano erupted in eastern Congo on Saturday night, turning the sky above a fearsome red and causing evacuation plans to be activated in a major city devastated in 2002 and 1977 by Mount Nyiragongoâ€™s most recent lava flows.

However, officials said the speed of the lava flows had slowed on sunday morning, and local journalists reported they had stopped just short of the outskirts of Goma, a picturesque lakeside city that is eastern Congoâ€™s hub for trade and transport. Videos showed property damage but there were no reports of injuries of deaths.

Electricity was out across large areas in the aftermath of the eruption.

‘There is a smell of sulphur. In the distance you can see giant flames coming out of the mountain,’ resident Carine Mbala told AFP news agency.

Rwandan authorities said about 3,000 people had officially crossed from Goma. The country’s state media said they would be accommodated in schools and places of worship.

One Goma resident, Richard Bahati, said he was in his house when he heard screaming. ‘I got out and saw the sky was red. I am so worried, so worried. I lived through the problem with this volcano in 2002. The volcano devastated all our homes and possessions.’

Swift-moving lava and its accompanying carbon-dioxide fumes left hundreds dead by some counts and more than 100,000 people homeless. Well over 1 million people live near the active crater, In January 2002.

A government spokesman, Patrick Muyaya, said late on Saturday that Gomaâ€™s evacuation plan had been activated, as the Associated Press reported that thousands were already fleeing, often on foot. A din of people and honking horns could be heard in videos of the red-glowing eruption shared on social media, and Rwandan officials said that more than 3,500 Congolese people had sought refuge across the border in nearby Rwanda.

â€œPanic spread as we were in contact with the residents of the north
of the city who from their roofs could see the path of the lava as it
made its way to the airport,â€ said Patient Iraguha, a resident of Rwanda
who works in Goma.

â€œInformation was circulating in all directions,â€ he told The Washington Post on Sunday morning from Rwanda. â€œDuring this time no official statement dictated any instructions, and nothing came out on the radio like on national television to give the right information on the direction of the lava and the escape route to take.â€

The pandemic has created unusual uncertainty at the Congo-Rwanda border crossing at Goma, which is one of the worldâ€™s busiest, seeing tens of thousands cross on foot each day in a kind of international commute. While daily crossings are still allowed, confusion over temperature checks and other monitoring measures put in place added to the chaos, Iraguha said.

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