The major volcano eruption of the Nyiragongo volcaano happened on Africa,Democratic Republic of Congo. The volcano is located in the Virunga Mountains and it erupted on Thursday 17th January 2002.
The lava flow reached the outskirts of the city of Goma and destroyed nearly 15% of it.The eruption destroyed near to 4500 buildings and left around 120,000 people homeless.The eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on the 17th of January forced around half a million people out of their homes and caused massive damage to the congolese. Thankfully due to warnings given to the people in Goma, 500,000 people were evacuated into Gisenyi a neighbouring country.
The volcanic eruption of Nyiragongo is caused by the movements of the Earth's crust where two parts of the African Plate are breaking apart. A month after the volcanic eruption of the Nyiragongo Volcano, the local residents of the city of Goma were still struggling to recover from the after effects of the eruption. Thousands still remained homeless and in need of food and medical aid. They also needed help to rebuild their homes which had been destroyed in the eruption.
The government of the Democratic Republic of Congo sought help from the United Nations and the UN food agency distributed nine thousand kilogrammes worth of high-protein biscuits to the people who fled to the camps in Rwanda to seek help from the government. USD 55,475 (around SGD83,000) from the Federations Disaster Relief Fund to support the response of the Democratic Republic of Congo to the threat posed to 1 million people due to the volcanic activities in Goma and the neighboring countries.
Personally, I think that the government should set-up an emergency evacuation plan just in case this unfortunate event ever happens again. They should also have emergency transport on standby when the warnings are given for the people in the cities and villages to evacuate.
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