On Monday 10 May the Goma Volcanic Observatory filed a report of increased seismic activity in Nyiragongo. However, World Bank funding had been cut a few months previously due to concerns about corruption, and the observatory had no way to widely share the findings nor to adequately monitor the volcano. The residents of Goma were relying on an early warning of increased activity. 

On Saturday 22 May at around 7pm local time, Mount Nyiragongo erupted, lighting up the night sky and sending plumes of fire into the air and molten lava towards the city of Goma with its 2 million inhabitants. There had been no official warning, nor the usual tremors that presage an eruption. 

Information was patchy and inaccurate, with uncertainty at first as to which of the two volcanoes had erupted and whether it was heading north towards the national park, east towards Rwanda or south towards Goma. The whole city was awake. Information, images and videos started to circulate on social media, some of the current eruption, some of lava flows from other eruptions and other parts of the world. Residents started fleeing east to Gisenyi, over the nearby border with Rwanda and west along the 20km road to Sake. The Rwandan border remained closed until around 5,000 people forced their way across. 

The tremors came afterwards as the lava started heading towards the city. The flight towards Sake became a mass exodus, and soon afterwards the road was blocked to traffic. Tens of thousands fled, with mattresses, food, water, pots and pans, and children in tow. By midnight the lava was well on its way towards the city, travelling slowly but surely south. The city, in which well over 90% would say they are Christian, prayed as it fled.

Some neighbourhoods had already been burnt to the ground – including the church building, the school and all the houses and fields in our parish of Kanyanja, near the volcano. In the parish of Buvira, a bit further south, the fields had been burned destroying all the crops. Kyanzaya’s neighbourhood of Buhene was flattened by lava.

A UNESCO helicopter went to survey the situation and reported that the lava flow was slowing. Miraculously at around 2.30am on Sunday morning, the lava flow stopped less than 1km from the airport. 

Below images L-R: lava flow towards Goma, lava fills a building and Buhene destroyed

As day dawned people started the long road back to the city. As the population returned we left to travel towards Sake, and then beyond, a journey of 45 minutes, that took us 4 ½ hours as we passed tens of thousands of returnees. We are staying out of Goma for now, as the city is still on red alert. The tremors have become more intense, cracks have opened up in the past 24 hours in various parts of town, including outside the general hospital. The fear is that lava could erupt from any of the previous fissures, with all of these areas declared as red zones. 

Incredibly casualties are still low, an overturned truck on the road to Sake, four escapee prisoners, one or two crushed in stampedes, and a few people burned by the lava or caught by gas as they walked across the still-burning rocks. There are also more than a hundred children in Goma and over the border in Gisenyi who are still not reunited with their parents. Schools remain closed. Some buildings have collapsed, including on of our schools in Ngangi as well as our diocesan offices suffering some structural damage. People are still fearful to sleep in their homes.

For now, there is relative calm. But the ongoing tremors are making the population very nervous. There is a real sense that Goma has just had a miraculous escape. Please continue to pray.

27 MAY UDPATE. Humanitarian agencies have started to provide emergency sanitation, food and water. Providentially one of our archdeaconries from outside Goma brought 300kg of potatoes to the office on Tuesday as a gift which we have been able to distribute, and another Anglican diocese has secured emergency funding from a partner to provide relief to the parish of Buvira. We are also working with Tearfund to bring basics to 1000 effected households in Kanyanja.

Yesterday the UN ordered all non-essential staff to evacuate. In the night the governor ordered a compulsory evacuation of 10 zones in central Goma, due to ongoing tremors and the risk of further localised lava eruptions linked with gas. Tens of thousands of families are heading west, with all roads blocked. Those who have remained are still very fearful. No real plan yet what to do with those who have left and those who are staying.

Tearfund have launched an appeal for DRC including the post-volcano response.

If you want to give to the rebuilding effort with the Diocese of Goma, click here