Nyiragongo Volcano eruption!!!

I am Roberta, the Geographical reporter for BBC news and it is nine years after the volcanic eruption here in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), in the centre of the continent of Africa, which happened on January 17th 2002. I feel bad that I was not here to witness this huge disaster, but I have the people of the city of Goma to create the storyline for me. Here, I can see the after effect that this massive disaster has had on the city of Goma.

This is the part of my job that I love, the Geographical part. I love using Geographical key terms! Anyway, back to my blog.

The volcanic eruption occurred in Mount Nyiragongo. What triggered the volcano to erupt was a constructive plate boundary in the African Rift Valley.

Many people in this country have been left with a scar of homelessness, loss of family, food, and water, which are the most important factors of their living. 100 people died in this tragedy, mostly from poisonous gas and getting trapped in lava. 40% of the city was destroyed, with the volcanic eruption at the speed of 40 miles per hour.

Let’s set the scene here. I have John Seach here with me, who is an explorer, and he actually interestingly enough, took a journey to the top of Mount Nyiragongo in 2008, to see for himself how the volcanic eruption occurred and what triggered it. John is back here especially to tell me what he witnessed six years ago.

So, John, what exactly happened here on Thursday 17th January? ‘Well, first let me thank you for having me, Roberta. Well, local people told me that first off they could feel shaking of the ground, and that’s when the eruption started. It looked like very hot and runny basalt lava poured out of Mount Nyiragongo surrounded them. They had been told before from scientists that had predicted a future volcanic eruption coming, but they did not believe it, as they had witnessed small activity in the past of the volcano, but not as much as it did on the day of the eruption’.

‘The local people were took into surprise, and the government were getting people evacuated immediately, but seeing as Goma is in one of the LEDC countries in the continent of Africa, the government did not have enough transport and resources to evacuate every single one of the people, so they sent them to refugee camps, but even then, not everyone got a space in the refugee camps as they were told it was too full. So, eventually, people died out of frustration of waiting and lack of food and water’.

Thank you very much for all your information, John.
‘My pleasure’.

This is Roberta Attuquayefio, reporting from Goma. Back to you Scott, at the studio.