The risk of a second eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano causes a mass exodus in Congo

Tens of thousands of people have fled Goma, a city of about 800,000 inhabitants located in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, given the risk of a new eruption of the Nyiragongo volcano, whose explosion last weekend has already caused 32 dead and 40 missing, according to Unicef.

The military governor of the North Kivu region, General Constant Ndima, gave the mandatory order to evacuate 10 of the 18 neighborhoods of the city during the early hours of Thursday, which caused a hasty departure of its inhabitants who were trying to take with them their most valuable belongings.

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"Current data on seismicity and ground deformation indicate the presence of magma under the urban area of ​​Goma with an extension under Lake Kivu," said General Ndima, who warned of the possibility of "an immediate eruption on land or under the lake, without any precursor signs ”. In the last 24 hours, tens of thousands of residents of Goma began to leave the city by car, causing huge traffic jams on the main entrance and exit road, or on foot, carrying large suitcases and packages on their backs.

Most of the inhabitants of Goma have made their way to the nearby town of Sake, located about 25 kilometers away, where thousands of people found refuge in churches and schools, while those who were not so lucky settled in tents and makeshift camps on the side of the road. On the other hand, as has been happening since the Nyiragongo erupted last weekend, earthquakes of up to 4.9 magnitude have continued to sow concern among the population. The Congolese government has reported that there have been more than 400 earthquakes since Sunday.

A team of experts traveled to the summit of the volcano this week to try to assess the risks and decide what measures to take. “The Executive wants to protect the population from possible lava flows. The return of the population will not be possible until the threat is completely ruled out ”, explained this Thursday Patrick Muyaya, government spokesman, from Kinshasa, the capital of the country. The Nyiragongo eruption has so far left 32 dead and 40 missing, according to UNICEF figures, which has warned that some 400,000 people, more than half children, could be displaced in this crisis.

The main exit points for those fleeing the risk of a second eruption are the aforementioned road to Sake, a city that is already collapsed, the Rwandan border and the road that goes north towards Rutshuru, which was cut by lava on the last weekend, but it has already been opened to traffic after carrying out emergency work. In the last hours, the authorities have asked the population to use this route as there are open spaces to the north where they can be installed. Police and military have been deployed to try to guide this evacuation and protect property and people at a time of great confusion.

Hundreds of people have also gone to the port of Goma, located on the shores of Lake Kivu, with the intention of getting on a boat that can transport them to Bukavu, the capital of South Kivu. However, there is a growing fear that the eruption will occur precisely under this lake, which poses a "catastrophic" scenario, according to the government spokesman. General Ndima referred to this risk, explaining that if the magma reaches the depths of Lake Kivu, a limonic eruption could occur in which toxic gases stored at the bottom of the lake, methane and carbon dioxide, could be released into the air. In 1986 such an eruption killed about 1,800 people along Lake Nyos in Cameroon.

Nyiragongo is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. Its last major eruption, in 2002, killed at least 240 people, asphyxiated by carbon dioxide, and left more than 100,000 homeless. The river of lava that reached Goma also changed the face of the city. Almost twenty years later, you can still see buildings in its streets whose ground floor was buried by lava turned into a gray stone mass.