COPING WITH COVID-19 AND VOLCANO, GOMA IS SCREAMING : SOS

On the evening of May 22, 2021, the population of GOMA believed they were spending a weekend like any other: walking around, visiting friends, strolling through the city's tourist sites and returning to the family before 7 p.m. because of an alarming insecurity of the city. Around 6:00 p.m. they saw the sky colored with a very ambient red light.

Being aware of volcanic mountains that the city possesses, the population believed that it was an extraordinary evening where nature was displaying its magnificent beauty.

Indeed it was an extraordinary day marking a new hatch of odious memories of years 1977 and 2002. The heat became more and more intense, the mountain of Nyiragongo spat out lava. The lava was advancing destroying everything in its path.

From now on to insecure situations, to repeated wars, to violence and monstrous massacres, to epidemic diseases that the eastern region is experiencing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; In addition, there is the covid-19 pandemic and the gigantic volcanic eruption.

Faced with an accomplished fact of enigmas , of the pandemic and now of the volcanic eruption; the population had no other choice but to save their life from Mr. \"the giant\".

Under a movement of \"save who can,\" thousands of people had to evacuate the city . Some took refuge in SAKE (a village  located about twenty kilometers from Goma) and others Had to cross Lake Kivu to take refuge in Bukavu. Others crossed Rwanda's borders to an unknown destination as long as their lives would be saved from volcano .

We watched the comings and goings of women trying to free their children and the investments of their families under a massive earthquake on .Nearly 400,000 people are currently displaced, in the neighboring province of South Kivu, the neighboring region of Masisi and further north. A few thousand people have also found refuge in Rwanda.

The shock is also that of the balance sheet. If this eruption is less serious than those of 1977 and 2002, the lava flows, which stopped at  the city's gates , still caused about thirty deaths, a massive destruction of the roads and completely destroyed between 900 and 2,500 homes, according to initial estimates.

The city of Goma had already made enormous progress to be ranked the 3rd city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Today its people are going trough a very difficult time.

the night of friday 28th, we welcomed in our 4 bedroom house 2 families coming from goma looking for accommodation in bukavu. these two families of 8 and 9 sleep in our small living room and others on the floor in our small rooms. the city of bukavu has already registered more than 200 children who were lost to their parents during the flight

 GOMA IS SCREAMING :SOS