In Goma, after the shock caused by the sudden eruption of Nyiragongo on the evening of Saturday, May 22, which killed about twenty people and injured several towns, and especially Buhene, it is time for questions. In particular, to know why the Goma Volcanological Observatory, which is responsible for monitoring and warning of the slightest problem, could not fulfill its role.
A national deputy from the constituency had already sounded the alarm when a World Bank project, funded by the Goma Volcanological Observatory (OVG), closed its doors in August last year. Was on holiday in Goma in August last year when he was warned by OVG agents who were arrested for asking for salaries they had not received for several months.
“The lists (of employees) indicate that we have 351 agents, but there are only about fifty working on site, all others are fictitious agents,” upset Jean-Baptiste Kasekwa, deputy contacted by Esdras Ndikumana by the Africa editorial staff for RFI.
Very soon he will realize that the problem is deeper. “There was no more fuel to take scientists to Mount Nyiragongo, there was no longer any budget for the internet, everything was missing! OVG ceases in practice. “
The Goma Volcanological Observatory has not been funded since the end of a World Bank project a few months earlier. This is not normal, the member said to himself, because it is the government that has this role. He will then try to warn the National Assembly, but his question to the government is “thrown in the trash”, he explains.
According to the Public Expenditure Observatory, the budget allocated to OVG over the past two years was approximately $ 1.2 million on paper. But no money has been released for its activities, due to lack of a worksheet, explains the responsible minister, José Mpanda, in charge of scientific research. He also acknowledges the presence of fictitious agents at OVG. A government delegation is in Goma to restore order in the House.
► To read also: Eruption of Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo: “We were lucky to have a lava flow that stopped at the gates of Goma”
► Read also: Outbreak of Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo: the city of Goma saved, the inhabitants return gradually
Goma Volcanic Observatory requires appeasement
The volcanologist and scientific director of OVG, Kasereka Mahinda Célestin, indicates that teams are deployed on the ground to fly over and monitor the risk zone. He acknowledges that OVG has experienced financial problems and hopes that everything will get better after being reassured by the government assignment that is in place in Goma.
59 RD CONGO _SON MORNING His volcanologist Goma: and now?
► Also read : eruption of the volcano Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo: lava flow has stopped but tremor
They are grouped either in families on the farm or in small numbers on the roads, these residents of the various neighborhoods who have mostly left their houses built in sustainable materials, especially those with floors, and say they are afraid of seismic movements known for early in the city.
Report on the situation in Goma
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