Tens of thousands of residents of Goma have been dispersing since early Thursday morning following the warning from the governor of northern Kivu about the risk of an eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano. Some went to the border with Rwanda, others to Bukavu, in southern Kivu.
With our special correspondent in Bukavu, William basimike
Ruphine Muhindo looks scared and gets off the Aganze boat and steps on the ground in Bukavu. She saved nothing but her 5-year-old daughter, whom she grabs by the hand, and some things were collected in a small bag that she holds in the other.
“I followed the governor’s statement and I was asked to leave the city. I did not have time to take a shower, I just took pants and put one on my daughter … We took nothing else, we left everything at home, we went, says the young woman.
► See also: Goma is evacuated in the face of catastrophic risks linked to the eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano
Next to her, Franck Mwinda, who lives in the Office 1 district of Goma, is also about to go down, but he does not know where to go. “This is my first time traveling to Bukavu. I had nothing prepared! I wonder what Bukavu might look like. My family lived in Goma, they said they would go to Sake. I do not have where to live, but I can manage. ”
In the ports, hundreds of family members are waiting for theirs. Colonel Sancho Mufungizi Floribert is among them, he is the second commander of the social services in the 33rd military region of South Kivu. “Military families are also in need. I realize their situation, I try to comfort them, but I know it will be okay. We know how to register them and take them to reception places, the official explains.
In a statement on Thursday, the provincial minister responsible for humanitarian affairs in South Kivu, Cosmos Bishisha, confirmed that a site had been set up in the Ndenderde Bukavu district with the possibility of also developing another site in the Panzi district to receive the displaced people from Goma who did not have host families.
We are committed together with many other volunteers to help people find water and places where they can go.
Ghislain Muhiwa, member of Lucha in Goma
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