[ad_1]
Strong earthquakes at Mount Nyiragongo have shaken the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) as the death toll from a recent explosion that has left hundreds of families homeless has reached 32.
Three days after the worst eruption in Africa came back to life, the quake shook the region 10 to 15 minutes Tuesday morning. A few inches (more than an inch) wide cracks appeared on the ground and on the road in several places, including near the main hospital in Goma, a city of about two million people, about seven miles[12 km]from Mount Nyiragongo.
“The city is in a state of disarray. “People don’t know which way to go,” a resident told AFP.
“Some are coming back, some are leaving, people are still scared.”
Thousands of people fled in panic, many of them to neighboring Rwanda, when the volcano erupted on Saturday evening.
Two rivers of molten rock flowed from the mountain 1,800 feet (5,900 feet). One headed for Goma, standing on the outskirts of the city.
It filled the house on its way, smashing the surrounding area with heavy gas and cutting off the road between Goma and Butembo, the main road in North Kivu province.
“Thirty-two people have been killed in the blast, including seven people killed in the blast and five others injured in the blast,” the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a statement, raising the old tax – which was taken from NGOs etc – of 20 dead.
“The eruption was stopped on Sunday, but there have been repeated earthquakes since the eruption of the volcanic eruption seems to have filled it, causing new cultural fears to open up or another eruption,” he was fleeing.
Five people died of suffocation on Monday after trying to cross a iceberg 13 kilometers north of Goma, government chief Mambo Kawaya told AFP.
Several deadly earthquakes were reported in Rwanda on Monday, including a magnitude 5.1 earthquake in Lake Kivu, Rwanda’s Seismic Monitor said.
Located at stratovolcano at about 3,500 meters (11,500 feet), Nyiragongo has a famous East African Rift problem. Its last eruption, in 2002, killed dozens of people.
Authorities in the DRC have urged residents to be vigilant and to refrain from walking on the lava flows.
“People who congregate on volcanic rocks without realizing they are already strong, can suddenly slip inside,” said Joseph Makundi, North Kivu’s regional security chief.
Raphael Tenaud, deputy chief of staff of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Goma, said the hurricane destroyed four major villages and destroyed 12 others.
Aid agencies contribute that between 900 and 2,500 homes were destroyed, he said, adding that this means that at least 5,000 people are homeless.
On the eve of the blast, and on Sunday, 25,000 people fled, Tenaud said.
“Most of the refugees have started returning to Goma, some have returned to the scene of the accident, near the eruption,” he told AFP.
“Some have moved home because they are afraid of returning, some have been able or able to return home, and there are others who are homeless.”
Pool damage has seriously affected the water supply of about half a million people, Tenaud said.
“The biggest problem will be the problem of access to drinking water, with all the consequences that can result from this,” he added, referring to the risk of disease.
The ICRC will set up unused pumps to fetch water, and water will be redistributed by truck, Tenaud said.
Most hospitals in the east of the city have been closed, with four hospitals in the west operating, he added.
[ad_2]
Source link
