It was a real emigration that we witnessed in Goma. Reports from the largest city in the eastern DRC showed that residents fled the region as the Nyiragongo volcano has threatened to erupt for several days. Relative calm reigns in Goma, now partially deserted by its inhabitants.
The inhabitants of Goma continue to arrive in Bukavu, writes our special envoy to Bukavu, William basimike. For example, these children on board a boat that has just docked, in the beginning of 28 May. And there are the residents of Goma who come with hand luggage. It is also older people who arrive, so these residents are the first to arrive and other boats leave Goma this morning to end up in Bukavu.
Identify reception areas
In the province of South Kivu, this is a meeting between local authorities that took place yesterday, Thursday 27 May, to try to organize and receive these displaced persons as well as possible. Several places have already been identified to receive these displaced persons.
Six days after the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano, Goma and its surroundings are still under threat. It is an unsurpassed experience, the government emphasizes. Several questions remain unanswered and Congolese researchers are still trying to find out why no warning signs were recorded and why the earthquakes continued.
“Unpublished painting”
For Patrick Muyaya, Congolese Minister of Communications and Media, who held a press conference on Thursday in Kinshasa, this incident is unparalleled: “What we observed on May 22 is that there have not been, as before, the previous quakes. You understand that we are facing an unprecedented picture and that researchers do not yet have a clear answer to what is really happening. This is precisely what motivates the government’s decision to evacuate the people who are most threatened, as the hypotheses suggest that one can go in one case or another, the risks of accentuating earthquakes. The Earth has been feeling continuously since May 22, which could cause loss of human life and significant property damage. ”
“The risk of a secondary volcanic eruption,” the minister explains, “based on cracks created by the seismic movement is not negligible. Those who live in Goma know that there have been underground cracks since previous outbreaks. The earthquakes felt since May 22 – more than 400 – have opened more cracks. So the fear, because we do not know, is if all the lava has already been emptied or if the lava is trying, precisely because of these shakes, to get out ”.
