‘We are hungry’: little food for families fleeing the DRC volcano Volcanic News

People in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) woke up with stronger tremors on Saturday morning from a frightened second volcanic eruption as families fleeing to seek shelter found enough food and water.

Dozens of people were killed when the Nyiragon volcano, one of the world’s most active, came back to life a week ago, destroying thousands of homes along the way by sending rivers of lava to a nearby city of Goma. Laba was stopped near the city’s borders, but thousands more escaped on Thursday when the government warned that the volcano could erupt at any time.

Most people have fled to the village of Sake or the border with northeastern Rwanda, while others have fled by boat from Lake Kivu. According to Governor Theo Ngwabidje, nearly 10,000 people are being sheltered on the southern shore of Lake Bukavun, many of them in foster families.

In Sake, about 20 miles northwest of Gomat, people slept wherever they could, on the side of the road and inside classrooms and churches.

Kabuo Asifiwe Muliwavyo, 36, said he and his seven children had not eaten since they arrived on Thursday.

“We have been told that there will be a second eruption and that there will be a big gas explosion,” he told Reuters news agency as he covered up the tears for a year.

“But since we changed, there’s nothing here … We’re hungry.”

I just woke up to more tremors here #Eraser # DRC. We are wondering if #Nyiragongo it will explode again. According to the volcanoes, the magma is still moving beneath the city and Lac #Kivu. #NyiragongoEruption

– Malcolm Webb (@MalcolmWebb) May 29, 2021

Evacuated Eugene Kubugoo told the AFP news agency that the water is giving children diarrhea and said: “We have no place to eat or sleep.”

Lawyer Hassan Kanga, who fled after the eruption, said: “Everyone was told that help would be arranged, that the government would give them money.

“And yet you find us under the stars.”

On Friday, Rwandan President Paul Kagame called for “urgent global assistance” to manage the crisis, and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said 400,000 people needed help or protection.

“As we increase the risk of cholera outbreaks, we call for urgent international assistance to prevent what could be a catastrophe for children,” said Edouard Beigbeder, UNICEF representative in the DRC.

The evacuation order was issued at around 1am on Thursday after radar images were shown dripping under the rubber.

The movement of the magma caused cracks in the ground and hundreds of earthquakes, which allowed the surface to explode in a new eruption, the Goma Volcano Observatory (OVG) said.

According to volcanoes, the worst case scenario is an eruption beneath the lake. This can release hundreds of thousands of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) dissolved in the depths of the water. The gas would rise to the surface of the lake, forming an invisible cloud that would remain at ground level and displace oxygen, suffocating life.

Earthquakes have been declining in frequency and intensity over the past 24 hours, suggesting that the risk of a new eruption is lowering, OVG’s Celestin Kasareka Mahinda said on Friday.

“I do not think we will have a second eruption. The problem is the risk of fracture, but the risk is low, about 20 percent, ”he told Reuters.

Congolese authorities, meanwhile, have reopened the main road divided into lava in two, the UN Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday.

On Friday, almost all the shops and banks in central Goma were closed, and there were only a few people and a few motorcycle taxis on the crowded streets.

In the poorer neighborhoods to the north of the city, a few shops were open and there were more people, including children playing around a water truck.

“I will stay in the city. I know I’m in immediate danger, but I have no choice, “said Aline Uramahoro, who runs a brewery.” I’ll leave when the volcano starts to spit. “

At an altitude of nearly 3,500 meters (11,500 feet), it is located in the tectonic division of the East African Rift in Nyiragon. The last major eruption, in 2002, killed about 100 lives and in 1977 the most deadly eruption on record killed more than 600 people.

Herman Paluku, 94, said he has seen it all, and stressed that he will not claim it this time.

“There is a small hill near here, which means that the lava is not reaching us. And that’s what protects us a little bit, ”he said in Swahili, his hands dipped in the air.

“I can never get out of here, in this situation. I can not “.