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Congo: Nyiragongo volcano erupting, Goma evacuated

 

The Nyiragongo volcano, which erupted on Saturday evening, raises fears of the worst in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. A large part of the city of Goma was evacuated. Local authorities are afraid of another eruption. “The current data of seismicity and soil deformation indicate the presence of magma under the urban area of ​​Goma, with an extension under Lake Kivu”, declared the military governor of the province of North Kivu, General Constant. Ndima. “We cannot currently rule out an eruption on land or under the lake which could occur very soon, or even without any warning sign,” he also explained.

“Additional risks are linked to the interaction between lava and water” in the lake, he warned, clearly evoking the disaster scenario, well known and identified for Lake Kivu, of a risk of destabilization of the gas under the lake (“limnic eruption”, in the jargon of specialists). “They are of several kinds”, he enumerated: “Interaction of magma with lake water, destabilization of the volume of gas dissolved under Lake Kivu and emission of potentially dangerous surface gases …”

Risk of suffocation around Lake Kivu

In such a scenario, “the gases dissolved in the deep waters of the lake rise, especially the CO2, and suffocate all living beings around Lake Kivu on the Congolese and Rwandan side”, according to a recent note from the Goma volcanology laboratory (OVG ), for whom “there would be thousands of deaths” in both countries. “The situation can change quickly, it is under constant surveillance”, and in “anticipation of this possible disaster, the evacuation is compulsory and will be done towards Sake (locality 20 kilometers west of Goma)”, added the governor of the province of North Kivu, of which Goma is the capital.

“It will have to be done calmly and without haste under the coordination of humanitarian workers and with the means of transport made available by the provincial authorities in each district”, detailed the governor. “People must take the bare minimum, to give everyone the chance to get on board after taking care to close their homes,” he concluded. His announcement was followed by the immediate departure of tens of thousands of people towards the southwest, towards the Congolese region of Masisi and Sake, and the nearby Rwandan border.

Vehicles of all kinds, cars full of families, vans and tankers were waiting in front of the “great barrier”, this Rwandan border which adjoins the south of the city, noted a correspondent for Agence France-Presse. The streets in the southern part of Goma were congested, with people walking, jogging or running, carrying mattresses, sports bags or a few meager possessions in plastic bags, giving their hands to frightened children so as not to. that they get lost.

Despite these traffic jams and this sudden influx, the crossing to Rwanda was proceeding in relative calm, it was noted, while lines of vehicles left towards Sake. City of more than 600,000 inhabitants, for an agglomeration of two million with the villages of the periphery, Goma has a dozen districts, and the evacuation ordered today amounts to an almost complete evacuation of the city.

Ten districts of Goma exposed to lava

The Nyiragongo volcano had erupted suddenly on Saturday evening, causing the first exile of residents, who have since returned but who were still living in the psychosis of a new eruption due to the incessant and powerful earthquakes continuing to shake the region. The previous major eruption of Nyiragongo, on January 17, 2002, killed around 100 people. The lava flowed Saturday evening in two directions from the flanks of the volcano, one flow coming to a standstill in the northeast suburbs of Goma, the other cutting for one kilometer the national road 4 connecting Goma to Butembo, a regional axis major and vital for supplying the city.

The ten districts of Goma evacuated on Thursday are “exposed to lava exit points, which are not foreseeable at the moment,” Governor Ndima insisted in his statement. “It is very important to stay away from lava flows, because of the danger of death from asphyxiation or burns.” “The police will patrol to secure property and people,” he said, concluding his remarks with “God keep us! “.

To date, the death toll is 32 people since the eruption on Saturday. Between 900 and 2,500 homes were destroyed. At least ten neighborhoods have no running water, and a large part of the city is no longer supplied with electricity. Access to drinking water is a major concern, aggravated by toxic dust and ash that mix with rainwater. The region of Goma is an area of ​​intense volcanic activity, with six volcanoes, including Nyiragongo and Nyamuragira which culminate at 3,470 and 3,058 meters respectively. The deadliest eruption in Nyiragongo in 1977 killed more than 600 people.


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