Kathmandu, May 26. Mount Nyiragongo near the Goma city of eastern Congo exploded at around 7 pm on Saturday evening. Since then, the nearby areas have experienced more than 100 tremors of tectonic movement.

On Tuesday, a 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Congo-Rwanda border, causing major cracks in buildings and roads. Now, the people are fearing that the volcano might explode again.

Saturday Disaster

Mount Nyiragongo near the Goma city of eastern Congo exploded on Saturday evening. As the lava approached the city, the government urged the residents for immediate evacuation.

Thousands of people fled on foot, carrying mattresses and belongings. Most of them rushed towards the Rwanda border, 3 kilometers from Goma.

By Sunday morning, more than 3,500 people had already entered Rwanda, seeking asylum in schools and religious facilities.

Mount Nyiragongo

10 kilometers north of Goma city, lies one of the most active and dangerous volcanoes of the world.

Experts suggest that the explosion of Nyiragongo is similar to its previous eruption that occurred 19 years ago.

In 2002, the Nyiragongo eruption destroyed one-fifth of Goma city, killed at least 250 people, and left 120,000 homeless.

State-People Conflict

On Sunday, United Nations’ radio station, Okapi reported that the Mount Nyiragongo volcano was not monitored in the past seven months.

According to the on-air report, the World Bank stopped funding a year ago, due to which Goma’s volcano observatory(OVG) could not keep an eye on the dynamics of the volcano.

Meanwhile, the residents of the Buhene district are blaming the observatory for not caring about the lives of people. The protestors are demanding the immediate resignation of the entire OVG team.

Media reports suggest that the people are raging in anger because the authorities did not give any warning prior to the disaster. A local resident told Africanews, “We weren’t even expecting this. It surprised us at 19:30 p.m.”