Tens of thousands of people began leaving Goma, in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on Thursday. The current military governor of the province, General Constant Ndima, has ordered that part of the city be evacuated amid the risks of the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano last Saturday.
Authorities in Goma this Thursday morning, May 27, ordered the evacuation of ten districts of the city with 600,000 inhabitants due to the risks associated with the eruption of the volcano Nyiragongo last Saturday. “The current data on seismicity and soil deformation indicate the presence of magma under the Goma urban area, with an extension under Lake Kivu,” the military said Thursday morning in an address to the local media military. Governor of North Kivu Province, General Constant Ndima. “At present, we cannot rule out an outbreak on land or under the lake (Kivu) that could occur very soon, or even without any warning signs,” General Ndima explained, referring to the names of ten districts in the city.
Mandatory evacuation
“Additional risks are linked to the interaction between lava and water” in the lake, he warned and clearly provoked the disaster scenario, well known and identified for Lake Kivu, for the risk of destabilization of the gas under the lake. In other words, in the jargon of the specialists, of a “limnic outburst”.
Consequence: The evacuation is “mandatory and will take place towards Sake”, 20 km from Goma, said the governor of North Kivu. Statements that immediately caused panic and led tens of thousands of people to the streets, according to the AFP correspondent, which specifies that after the huge traffic jams in the morning, the situation returns to normal on the city streets. General Ndima demanded an evacuation in peace and with means of transport made available by the authorities. “People must take the only minimum to give everyone the chance to go on board after taking care of closing their houses,” he concluded.
Disaster scenario
The scenario for a limnic eruption is particularly frightening: “the gases dissolved in the lake’s deep water rise, especially carbon dioxide, and suffocate all living things around Lake Kivu on the Congolese and Rwandan sides”, according to a note fromGoma Volcanology Observatory (OVG) which AFP has had a copy of, for whom “there would be thousands of deaths” in the two countries.
Since the outbreak on Saturday that killed at least 32 people and destroyed hundreds of homes, most residents who had fled had returned to their homes and activity had begun to resume, despite the many shakes that had taken place. Continues to shake the region. In 2002, the Nyiragongo eruption killed about 100 people.
(with AFP)
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