"Thirty-two people died in incidents linked to the eruption, including seven people killed by lava and five asphyxiated by gases," the UN's refugee agency, the UNHCR, said in Geneva.
"The lava flow stopped on Sunday, but there have been repeated earthquakes since the eruption and the lava lake in the volcano's crater appears to have refilled, prompting fears of new fissures opening or another eruption."
Lava flowed down the volcano from a height of 1,800 metres, destroying homes in the villages surrounding Goma, a city of 1.5 million people. Cracks of several centimetres are on the roads in several areas of Goma, including near the city’s main hospital, according to a report by AFP newswire.
"The situation in the city is confused. People don't know which way to go," one resident said.
It engulfed homes in its wake, smothering the surrounding area with suffocating gas and cutting off the road between Goma and Butembo, the main highway in North Kivu province.
Five people suffocated on Monday after they tried to cross the cooling lava some 13 kilometres north of Goma, said civil society leader Mambo Kawaya.
International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) said that some people whose homes haven’t been destroyed are returning after fleeing.
Humanitarian groups estimate that between 900 and 2,500 dwellings were destroyed, leaving at least 5,000 people homeless.
Earthquakes between 14h00-16h00 (Local time). pic.twitter.com/mVWfevGK4m
— Rwanda Seismic Monitor (@Earthquakes_Rwa) May 25, 2021
Goma is located on the western bank of Lake Kivu, with Rwanda’s border sharing the eastern bank. According to the Rwanda Seismic Monitor, a government body that gives updates on local earthquakes and seismic waves, Rwanda registered a 5.1-magnitude earthquake under Lake Kivu on Monday.
Nyiragongo, Africa’s most active volcano, sits on the East African Rift, where tectonic forces underground try to create new tectonic plates by splitting apart the old ones.
