In the metropolis of Goma, the situation at the Nyiragongo volcano is getting worse. Almost half a million people are desperately on the run. Many streets and the airport are closed.
Goma (AP) – The helper Rachel Bernard is desperate. “We do what we can to meet every challenge. In this situation, which is constantly changing, ”sighs the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
But she too has to admit that the situation in Goma, a city of millions, is difficult to master. Half a million people are desperately fleeing from an imminent renewed eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano.
According to the ICRC, around 550 children were separated from their families in the chaos of flight in just 48 hours. These had set out after an official eviction order.
A deadly poison cloud threatens
Where? Just away from the impending danger – somewhere. Because the options are not numerous: the airport is closed, an important connecting road blocked by the lava – and the sea route across the neighboring Lake Kivu is highly risky. Because highly toxic methane is slumbering on the ground, which is threatening to be released by the glowing lava. Such a poison cloud would be fatal for everything in the vicinity. In addition, the tremors are becoming increasingly violent. “The danger of another eruption is real and the fear is palpable: every five minutes you can feel tremors in the city,” reported the Red Cross manager Raphaël Tenaud. And some of them had it all.
A Welthungerhilfe employee in the Rwandan capital of Kigali, just under 150 kilometers away, had to briefly interrupt his phone call with headquarters because the tremors could still be clearly felt there. The authorities suspect that the lava digs its way underground under the city and can break out with every quake. The volcano is located in the Virunga National Park, about 20 kilometers north of the city and near the border with Rwanda. It last erupted in 2002. Back then, lava destroyed large parts of Goma, killing around 250 people and leaving 120,000 homeless.
What happens after the escape?
A metropolis in fear: If the volcano erupts again, a mega-catastrophe with devastating effects threatens. Even if it is avoided: the question of how to proceed after the escape is already giving rise to serious worries for the aid organization’s employees. Almost a thousand houses were destroyed, the power supply was interrupted, and according to the Red Cross, half a million people lack drinking water. The risk of a cholera outbreak is high under these circumstances.
According to the UN Agency for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA), dozens of people are still missing. The closure of the airports in the affected border town of Goma and the neighboring town of Bukavu made humanitarian aid more difficult. Three villages and a suburb of Goma were destroyed by the lava. In addition, many children are left disoriented. “Our teams come across unaccompanied children in the accommodations – girls and boys who run the risk of being abused or exploited if no one takes care of them,” said the country director of the children’s aid organization Save the Children, Amavi Akpamagbo.
Five million internally displaced people
After the volcano erupted last Saturday, residents left their homes in a panic and fled across the border into neighboring Rwanda. Part of the lava had rolled towards Goma, but then stopped 300 meters from the border town’s airport.
“This latest crisis is putting even more pressure on the already strained resources of the government and aid organizations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” said Akpamagbo’s colleague Niyonzima. After all, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has the highest number of internally displaced persons in any country on the African continent, with around 5.2 million internally displaced persons.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210528-99-773080 / 4
Ocha report on the consequences of the volcanic eruption
