Tremors shake DR Congo’s Goma after deadly volcanic eruption
Continuing tremors have shaken the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s city of Goma, unnerving families still reeling from a volcano eruption at the weekend that destroyed nearby villages, displaced thousands and killed at least 32 people, Reuters news agency said.
Mount Nyiragongo, one of the world’s most active and dangerous volcanoes, erupted on Saturday evening, sending a smouldering wall of lava half a mile wide downhill towards the city of two million.
The lava flow stopped a few hundred metres short of the city limits, but destroyed more than a dozen villages on the way, blocked the main route to town and cut the principal electricity supply.
People in Goma continued to be worried as violent aftershocks continued through the night and into Monday morning.
“They’re multiplying and they come at any moment,” one resident told AFP news agency, describing the aftershocks as “very worrying”.
Tens of thousands of residents had fled the city in panic – about 7,000 of them to neighbouring Rwanda – when Nyiragongo began erupting. Officials said 17 villages on the city’s fringes had suffered major damage.
