GOMA: A volcanic eruption in eastern Congo left a smoking trail of destruction half a mile wide on Sunday that buried hundreds of houses and left residents searching for missing loved ones, before halting just short of the city of Goma.
Goma was thrown into panic on Saturday evening as Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world's most active and dangerous volcanoes, erupted, turning the night sky an eerie red and sending a wall of orange lava downhill towards the lakeside city of about 2 million people.
Fifteen were killed, including nine in a traffic accident as residents fled, four who tried to escape Munzenze prison in Goma and two who were burned to death, government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said in a statement.
That figure will likely rise considerably. A Reuters reporter saw two people killed by the initial eruption in a village north of Goma, and witnesses spoke of dead and missing relatives.
Haunted by memories of an eruption in 2002 that killed 250 people and left 120,000 homeless, residents fled on foot with their belongings, some towards the nearby border with Rwanda.
The International Federation of Red Cross said that between 3,000 and 5,000 fled into Rwanda on Saturday, many of them peasants and farmers with livestock. Some began returning on Sunday.
The eruption was caused when fractures opened in the volcano's side, causing lava flows in various directions.
As the sun rose on Sunday a smouldering black gash about half a mile wide could be seen on the outskirts of Goma, where the lava had cooled to rubble.
At some points it was three storeys high, engulfing even large buildings and sending smoke into the grey morning sky.
Residents in the Buhene district sorted through the mangled white remains of tin roofs or lifted rocks - tiny individual efforts in what will likely be a months-long campaign to restore the zone.
Elsewhere, groups of people posed for photos on the steaming lava.
In all, seventeen villages were hit, Muyaya said, and three health centres, a primary school and a water pipeline were destroyed.
Lava crossed a main road running north from Goma, severing a key aid and supply route, and the city's principle supply of electricity, delivered along a line run by the Congolese Water and Electricity Distribution Company, was cut.
A government delegation has been dispatched to Goma to help in the response, he said.
"I CURSE THIS DAY"
Some said they had lost family members.
Ernestine Kabuo, 68, said she had tried to carry her sick husband from their house as the lava approached, but he was too unwell to leave.
"I said to myself, I can't go alone, we've been married for the best and for the worst," said Kabuo, walking in a daze and crying, surrounded by buildings swallowed by lava.
"I went back to at least try to get him out but couldn't. I ran away and he got burned inside. I don't know what to do. I curse this day."
The flow towards Goma stopped a few hundred metres from the city limits. The nearby airport was untouched. A separate lava flow that headed east over unpopulated terrain towards Rwanda also appeared to have stopped.
"Local authorities who have been monitoring the eruption overnight report that the lava flow has lost intensity," Muyaya said.
Still, authorities warned that the danger was not over and that seismic activity in the area could cause further lava flows.
Before the eruption, experts were worried that the volcanic activity observed in the past five years at Nyiragongo mirrored that in the years preceding eruptions in 1977 and 2002.
Volcanologists at the OVG, which monitors Nyiragongo, have struggled to make basic checks on a regular basis since the World Bank cut funding amid embezzlement allegations.
From October 2020 to April, the observatory could not carry out comprehensive seismic checks on the volcano because analysts lacked an internet connection, OVG's scientific director Celestin Kasereka Mahinda told local Radio Okapi on Sunday.
Internet was restored in April thanks to funding from a U.S. partner, he said, but by that stage too much time had been lost.
"As soon as the internet was restored, we had started recording the warning signals, but since we did not have previous data, we thought it was the start of volcanic activity. Hence this surprise."
Reuters
Mon May 24 2021
An aerial view shows lava flowing from the volcanic eruption of Mount Nyiragongo near Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo. REUTERSpic
Kerjasama bersepadu Persekutuan, Negeri selesai isu prasarana sekolah daif Sabah
Kerajaan Sabah akan terus menjalin kerjasama erat dengan kerajaan Persekutuan dalam usaha memberi suasana dan nafas baharu kepada prasarana sekolah di negeri itu.
Pantau Belanjawan: Tadbir Urus: ‘Spot check’ nilai prestasi penjawat awam
Semua ketua jabatan kerajaan perlu membuat semakan mengejut bagi memerhati pelaksanaan kerja kakitangan bawahan bagi memastikan tiada amalan negatif berlaku dalam jabatan masing-masing agar perkhidmatan awam kekal cekap, relevan dan berkesan. Apakah kaedah dan pendekatan terbaik untuk melaksanakan usaha ini?
Leftenan Muda Min Youn satu-satunya penuntut bangsa Cina tamat latihan Komando GGK 2024
Min Youn yang berasal dari Setapak, Kuala Lumpur itu merupakan graduan perakaunan daripada Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR).
Seorang maut, nahas dua kereta di Ipoh
Kemalangan melibatkan dua buah kereta iaitu jenis Honda City dan Peugeot.
Play Store kini benarkan muat turun dua aplikasi serentak
Berdasarkan laporan 9to5Google, ciri ini diberikan secara berperingkat kepada pengguna Android bermula dengan peranti\
Che'gu Bard mengaku tidak bersalah dua pertuduhan
Badrul Hisham mengaku tidak bersalah, selepas semua pertuduhan dibaca di hadapan Hakim, Siti Aminah Ghazali.
Tahanan PPA tekad jadikan kemahiran dalam “tirai besi” sebagai mata pencarian
Kehidupan di dalam tirai besi memberikan keinsafan kepada Fifi, Apit dan Bulat.
Ringgit susut berbanding dolar AS pada sesi awal
Pada 9 pagi, ringgit merosot kepada 4.7715/7810 berbanding mata wang Amerika Syarikat (AS) daripada 4.7650/7710 pada Jumaat.
Guna semula bangunan pawagam lama, bangkit suasana klasik
Ia bukan sahaja mampu menarik ramai pelancong tetapi juga mampu memulihara bangunan warisan yang masih elok dan ditatap oleh generasi kini.
Mesyuarat Khas WEF: PM Anwar jumpa 50 pemimpin industri, perniagaan global
PM yakin lebih banyak pelabur bernilai tinggi akan pilih Malaysia sebagai destinasi pelaburan.
49 maut dalam insiden bot terbalik di Congo
Punca nahas itu dipercayai kerana bot penumpang dan kargo itu membawa muatan berlebihan termasuk bahan binaan.
14 terbunuh dalam serangan gereja di timur Congo
CODECO iaitu salah satu daripada kumpulan militan yang beroperasi di wilayah timur yang konflik didakwa terlibat dalam serangan itu.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Banjir Congo: Angka kematian meningkat kepada lebih 200
Banjir yang dicetuskan oleh hujan lebat menyebabkan tebing Sungai Chibira pecah, hingga memusnahkan bangunan dan ramai mangsa tertimbus di bawah runtuhan.
8 terbunuh, lebih 800 banduan larikan diri selepas pengganas serang penjara di Congo
Antara yang terbunuh dalam serangan oleh Pasukan Demokratik Bersekutu itu ialah dua anggota polis dan seorang awam.
Berita antarabangsa pilihan sepanjang hari ini
Antara pelbagai berita luar negara yang disiarkan di Astro AWANI, berikut adalah antara yang paling menjadi tumpuan sepanjang hari ini.
Thailand sahkan tiga kes import varian Omicron
Thailand mengesahkan tiga kes import varian Omicron COVID-19 dan mengesan satu lagi kes kebarangkalian untuk virus itu, membabitkan seorang lelaki tempatan yang pulang dari Congo.
Angka korban letusan gunung berapi di Congo meningkat kepada 32
Jumlah korban akibat letusan gunung berapi Gunung Nyiragongo pada Sabtu meningkat kepada 32 orang dan angka itu dijangka akan bertambah.
Malaysia jatuh 18 anak tangga dalam Indeks Kebebasan Media 2021 - RSF
Malaysia jatuh 18 tangga dari tempat ke-101 pada 2020 ke tempat ke-119 tahun ini.
WHO kesan penularan kedua wabak Ebola di Congo
Kes baharu Ebola juga dikesan di utara Mbandaka di wilayah Equateur di mana pihak berkuasa kesihatan Congo telah mengenal pasti enam kes.