Streets in the eastern DR Congo city of Goma returned to life yesterday, five days after residents fled following warnings that the nearby Nyiragongo volcano could erupt again.
Even as emergency officials insisted it was still not safe to return, streets in the city centre were clogged with traffic, the flow of pedestrians seemed close to normal and some shops had reopened.
Africa Daily News, New York gathered that in front of the city’s main hospital, traffic navigated around large cracks that had emerged after the volcano first erupted last month.
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Nyiragongo suddenly erupted on May 22, spewing out two rivers of lava before stopping the following day.
But powerful aftershocks ensued, causing several buildings to collapse and triggering panic among the population.
Scientists fear a possibly catastrophic eruption under the floor of nearby Lake Kivu.
In their worst projection, a ‘limnic eruption‘ would heat carbon dioxide dissolved in the depths of the lake, sending the gas to the surface.
Forming a vast, invisible cloud, the gas could settle at ground level on the lakeshore city, asphyxiating its inhabitants, according to this scenario.
In response, the North Kivu provincial authorities last week Thursday ordered the evacuation of most of the city’s districts. Around 400,000 people, out of a population of 600,000, were uprooted.
Around 120,000 arrived in the town of Sake, about 25 kilometres (15 miles) away to the west, while thousands more fled to the Rwandan town of Gisenyi, just across the border to the east.
According to the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR, 350,000 evacuees are in need of emergency help.
AFRICA DAILY NEWS, NEW YORK
