Hundreds of Goma residents who fled to Rwanda Saturday following eruption of Mountain Nyiragongo, have since this morning returned after the volcanic eruption reportedly seemed to subsidize reliable sources have told The New Times.
According to a team currently stationed in Rubavu to cover the unprecedented events, a view from the Busasamana village, where some evacuees are based, shows smoke spewing from the mountain, with no clear signs of lava flowing.
“Majority have now returned back to Goma,” a journalist from the national broadcaster said, estimating that at least 4000 out of a total of 7000 were still stranded in Rubavu,
She added, that a big number of those who are still in Rwanda say that all their property was destroyed by the eruption.
Others, she highlighted, “Are elderly Congolese who are concerned that the volcano could still erupt at any given time during the day.”
The New Times understands that officials in Rubavu District alongside a team from The Ministry of Emergency Management are currently facilitating evacuees that have voluntarily expressed an interest in returning back to Ngoma, a major city in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.
“Those who are in DR Congo communicate with the ones that are in Rwanda to share information, it is mainly what has given them confidence to return home,” the source said.
Atleast 7,000 Residents of Goma were on Saturday received in Rwanda.
Upon their arrival, they were accommodated in different facilities including schools and other sectors.
Officials in Rubavu District say that some of these sites have now been cleared and Congolese facilitated back home.
Nyiragongo last erupted in 2002, killing 250 people and making 120,000 people homeless after the lava flowed into Goma.
However, Volcano watchers have been worried that the volcanic activity observed in the last five years at Nyiragongo mirrors that in the years preceding eruptions in 1977 and 2002.
eashimwe@newtimesrwanda.com
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