On Sunday afternoon, seismologists in DR Congo reported 92 earthquakes in the last 24 hours.
The earthquakes come after a volcanic eruption on May 22, from the volcano Nyiragongo. The volcano is 3500 meters high and is located 15 kilometers from the city of Goma. It is in this area that most of the quakes have occurred.
A report by the Goma Volcano Observatory (GVO), obtained by CNN, informed the government of the Central African country that “the volcano’s crater continues to collapse, contributing to earthquakes and causing ash spills”.
Nyiragongo Volcano is considered to be Africa’s most active volcano.
– The whole hill and the house in shakes
On the run
On Thursday 27 May, the authorities ordered the evacuation of ten districts in the city. The lava mass had then destroyed 4,500 homes, and 32 deaths had been confirmed. Concerns have grown among the local community, and around 400,000 people have now fled.
Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council. While several organizations have evacuated for a long time, Egeland is still in the country and trying to remain calm. For him, it is important to pay more attention to DR Congo. Shortly after the volcanic eruption, he told Dagbladet how the situation was.
– There are earthquakes every ten minutes, day and night, and there is a great danger of a new, large volcanic eruption, Egeland says.
FLIGHTS: According to the UN, 400,000 people have now fled, 280,000 of them children. Photo: Guerchom NDEBO / AFP
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Worst-case-scenario
Officials are now trying to prepare society for what may happen next. The best case scenario will be that the earthquakes stop and no further eruptions occur. However, in the report obtained by CNN, officials also noted a worst-case scenario. This can include an eruption under the Kivu River that can emit toxic gas, causing debris and debris to be sent flying into the air as a result of continued magma flow through a crack in the river.
“If lava erupts in the Kivu River, keep a considerable distance. The explosions can cause dangerous ballistics “, the report states.
The Nyiragongo volcano last erupted in 2002 when parts of Goma were buried by thick lava, killing about 100 people.
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