DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/RWANDA: VOLCANO REFUGEES RETURN TO GOMA/ BRITISH AID ARRIVES.

Record ID: 275356

  • Title: DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/RWANDA: VOLCANO REFUGEES RETURN TO GOMA/ BRITISH AID ARRIVES.
  • Date: 21st January 2002
  • Summary: (W7) GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JANUARY 20, 2002)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. AV: AERIAL VIEWS GOMA 0.50 2. AV: VIEWS OF LAVA ENTERING LAKE KIVU 1.42 (U6) GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (JANUARY 20, 2002)(REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 3. GV/CU: VIEW OF LAVA DEVASTATION AT GOMA CATHEDERAL (3 SHOTS) 1.55 4. GV/MV: VARIOUS
  • Embargoed: 5th February 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: GOMA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO/ GISENYI, RUHENGARI AND NKAMIRA, RWANDA
  • City:
  • Country: Congo, Democratic Republic of
  • Reuters ID: LVA2KY1DF900NRCXH13M1W94BYTR
  • Story Text: Hundreds of thousands of victims of the volcanic
    eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo are battling to
    return to their homes, and British aid has arrived in
    neighbouring Rwanda.

    Up to half a million people were left homeless when
    Mount Nyiragongo, near Goma in the DRC, began spewing molten
    rock on Thursday.

    An estimated 47 people were killed and 220,000 were
    thought to have crossed the border into neighbouring Rwanda.

    But faced with makeshift refugee camps with little food or
    shelter to offer, an estimated 180,000 people have crossed
    back into the DRC, preferring to risk crossing rivers of
    boiling-hot lava in the hope that their homes could have
    survived.

    Relief agencies warned of a possible humanitarian crisis
    in Goma, where much of the city has been destroyed and is
    without clean water or electricity. One aid worker described
    it as "flat, black and burning".

    Earthquakes were continuing to rock the region and
    vulcanologists said they could not rule out further eruptions.

    Aid workers said up to half of Goma's housing was
    destroyed in the aftermath of the volcano, and appealed for
    people to return to the Rwandan refugee camps, where aid has
    begun to arrive.

    Oxfam flew its first plane-load of British aid into Rwanda
    today and began testing water supplies in Goma to check if
    lava had poisoned the water.

    Cholera is rife on the DRC-Rwanda borders and there are
    fears infected water could create an epidemic. Two of Goma's
    four hospitals were also destroyed.

    The Oxfam flight took British aid worth $200 000US,
    consisting of bedding and equipment to provide clean water for
    drinking and sanitation for 50,000 people.

    It flew into the Rwandan capital of Kigali and was tonight
    en route for the border refugee camps, where it can be set up
    within 24 hours.

    Oxfam said workers on the UN assessment flights over Goma
    had seen people trying to cross the lava flows, which were up
    to 10ft deep in places, and up to 160ft wide.

    Tens of thousands of people were feared stranded in a
    section of Goma cut off by the lava flows, and thousands more
    were still unaccounted for.

    But in areas untouched by the lava the helicopter crews
    said people were getting on with everyday life, and were even
    playing football on one pitch in the city.

    The UK health charity Merlin said residents were returning
    to Goma at the rate of some 6,000 every hour.

    Its nurses, who are being recruited from the returnees,
    are treating victims for burns, smoke inhalation and other
    problems and it was due to open a health centre in the city
    centre tomorrow.

    Meanwhile, the international medical aid agency Medecins
    Sans Frontieres said it was planning a measles vaccination
    programme after two cases of the disease were found in Nyundo.

    A team of relief workers from Christian Aid was also flew
    to Rwanda on Saturday and the charity promised $70 000US of
    emergency aid to help cope with what it described as a
    "potentially huge disaster".

    Oxfam has been promised $700 000US from the Government's
    $2. 6US million emergency aid package but appealed for more
    funds from the public.

    The Catholic aid agency Cafod has also released $70 000US
    to provide the refugees with blankets, tents, food and cooking
    utensils.

    The 11,381ft Nyiragongo and 10,022ft Nyamulagira volcanoes
    north of Goma are the only active ones in the Virunga chain of
    eight volcanoes that runs east into Rwanda. Nyiragongo last
    erupted seriously in January 1977, killing about 70 people.
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