volcanic eruption

After erupting two months ago, DR Congo's volcano Nyiragongo has released large amounts of ash, raising concerns about the health of local people, experts said on Sunday. The volcano furthest east of the great central African country first erupted on May 22, claiming 32 lives and destroying hundreds of homes. "The ash is the result of the collapse of part of Nyirangongo's central crater," volcanologist Muhindo Syavulisembo said in a statement. However, Syavulisembo, who heads the Goma Volcano…

Nearly 400,000 people fled the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo's city of Goma after the government issued an evacuation order for fear of a new eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano, local authorities said on Friday. "80,000 households, equivalent to about 400,000 inhabitants, left the city of Goma on Thursday," they said in a report on an emergency meeting on the situation. Tens of thousands of people flocked out of the city on Thursday, suffocating highways in response to the "preventive"…

An earthquake measuring 5.3 on Rwanda's seismic monitor hit the border with Congo and Rwanda on Tuesday. Several buildings collapsed in the city of Goma, raising fears that a nearby volcano would erupt again three days after dozens of people were killed and 17 villages destroyed by lava. The quake was the largest of more than 100 quakes that followed the eruption of the Congolese volcano Nyiragongo on Saturday, one of the world's most active and dangerous. "We know that children were injured when a…

Five people were found suffocated to death on toxic fumes from the volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of the Congo's volcano Nyiragongo on Monday, when strong aftershocks shook the city of Goma. The death toll is 20 the number killed since Africa's most active volcano erupted on Saturday, spewing red-hot melted lava that engulfed houses in its wake. "We have just discovered five dead people," civilian leader Mambo Kawaya told Agence France-Presse (AFP), saying they were "suffocated by the…

Thousands have fled the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo) when a river of boiling lava mercifully stopped on the outskirts of Goma on Sunday, saving the city in the east of the country from disaster. Fire and strong fumes originated from the black-melted cliff when it engulfed houses, on its way to Goma Airport on Lake Kivu, says a correspondent from Agence France-Presse (AFP). But the military governor of northern Kivu province said the "city was spared" after…

Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, suddenly became active on Saturday, spraying red smoke into the night sky, news agencies reported. "I can see high lava fountains and I think it is likely that it will be in Goma very soon," says volcanologist Dario Tedesco. "Currently, people are not evacuating." Power was cut in the city and despite this statement, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that some residents were starting to leave their homes and on their way to the nearby border…

Mount Nyiragongo, a volcano located in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, suddenly erupted on Saturday, spraying red smoke into the night sky, news agencies reported. People seized mattresses and other belongings and fled to the border with nearby Rwanda when a red light filled the sky above the city and power was cut off. Dario Tedesco, a volcanologist in the city by the lake of about 2 million, told Reuters that Goma did not appear to be in danger, and lava appeared to flow eastward towards…