Mount Nyiragongo in DR Congo erupts

Hundreds of children and families in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) Goma district are at risk following the volcanic eruption of Mount Nyiragongo.

Around 8,000 people crossed into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to seek refuge following the eruption of the volcano, Rwanda’s Emergency Management Ministry said Sunday.

“This morning, after lava flows from Nyiragongo volcano have stopped, most of Congolese evacuated to Rubavu are returning back home. Rwanda received around 8000 people last night,” the ministry said on its official Twitter account.

Six-hundred homes around Goma have been destroyed and five schools flattened, according to NRC estimates.

The volcanic eruption seems to have subsided, according to the Goma Volcano Observatory, which monitors the volcano. Authorities in the city activated an evacuation plan as a precaution.

Electricity was out across large areas in the aftermath of the eruption.

MONUSCO, UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, said that helicopters from the mission had made reconnaissance flights over the crater, including on Sunday morning, and it was “closely monitoring the situation.”

The last time Nyiragongo erupted in 2002, well over 100,000 were left homeless and around 250 people were reportedly killed. It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and the deadliest eruption from the lava lake, reportedly led to the death of more than 600, in 1977.

Mount Nyiragongo is one of the world’s more active volcanoes but there were concerns that its activity had not been properly observed by the Goma Volcano Observatory, since the World Bank cut funding amid allegations of corruption.

In a report on 10 May, the observatory warned that seismic activity at Nyiragongo had increased.

The U.S. Embassy in Rwanda has issued Security Alert #3 in relation to the eruption.