"They have no where to go because there was no plan," Madowo said. A majority of those fleeing are heading eastward towards Sake, a nearby town that is out of the red zone, while others have crossed the border into Rwanda.
"It's already the night here and there are still people trying to flee the city. Goma is essentially getting deserted. The whole day people have been trying to gather their belongings, just carrying what they can on their back and their children, so many children. They don't know what they will feed them.They don't know how long they're going to be away because the government says they don't when they can say when it's safe to return," Modowo said.
Authorities are concerned about a possible volcanic explosion, implosion from under the ground and damage from earthquakes that have been felt over the past few days, Modowo said.
"The lava appears to have cleared up, but the damage and the danger is far from gone," he added.
The DRC Ministry for Communication spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a news conference in Kinshasa earlier that the government's priority is the "preservation of human life."
Roads are at a standstill as thousands of people are flocking to the small town of Sake, 25 kilometers northwest of Goma, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC.)
Just hours ago, authorities ordered 10 neighborhoods in the city of Goma to be evacuated due to risks following the deadly volcanic eruption on Saturday, including earthquakes and fear of another eruption.
Our CNN team on the ground witnessed people abandon their vehicles on the roads as a "clear sense of panic" sets in and night falls.
"Pedestrians have abandoned the road and are pushing through any possible alternatives to keep going," CNN's Bethlehem Feleke reports.
The DRC Ministry for Communication spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a news conference in Kinshasa earlier that the government's priority is the "preservation of human life."
Provincial authorities are continuing to work with the national police and armed forces to escort the evacuees along the evacuation routes.
Those fleeing Goma may either take the route east towards the locality of Sake or along the reopened Rutshuru route towards the north.
Muyaya concluded by asking the population to "stay vigilant" and listen out for information from the authorities "taking into account the fact that the situation may evolve rapidly."
Since then, the area has experienced a series of earthquakes and tremors, some that were felt as far away as the Rwandan capital of Kigali, 65 miles from the volcano in the Virunga National Park.
CNN's team on the ground sent in these pictures of people desperately trying to seek shelter, food and water in a church in Sake.
It is not yet clear how many households have been affected by the eruption, said UNICEF. Scores of children in the area near Goma’s airport have been left homeless and destitute.
A UNICEF team has been deployed in the affected areas of Sake, Buhene, Kibati and Kibumba to provide first-line response, which includes installing chlorination water points in and around Sake to limit the spread of cholera.
The agency said that hundreds of people are trying to return but are finding their homes damaged, and water and electricity supply severely disrupted. UNICEF added that it would strengthen its surveillance for cholera in Goma itself, following residents’ return.
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is suffering through “the world’s most neglected displacement crisis” due to multiple conflicts that forced two million people to flee their homes in 2020 as well as an acute lack of international aid and diplomatic attention, according a new report from a leading humanitarian organization.
The central African country, which is now drawing some of the world’s attention due to a volcanic eruption which has killed dozens and displaced thousands in the eastern city of Goma, topped the Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) annual list of the world’s ten most forgotten crises.
“DR Congo is one of the worst humanitarian crises of the 21st century. A lethal combination of spiralling violence, record hunger levels and total neglect has ignited a mega-crisis that warrants a mega-response. But instead, millions of families on the brink of the abyss seem to be forgotten by the outside world and are left shut off from any support lifeline,” said NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland in a statement.
Congo has more than 27 million people, including over three million children, who do not have enough food to feed themselves – a third of the country’s population – and more than five million people who are internally displaced, according to NRC.
Eight of the world’s top 10 most neglected crises in 2020 are in Africa, while two are in Latin America. These are, in order: DR Congo, Cameroon, Burundi, Venezuela, Honduras, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Central African Republic and Mali.
“The little income they had is often gone, needs are skyrocketing and funding continues to dry up,” said Egeland.
The Norwegian Refugee Council uses three criteria to put together its annual most neglected displacement crisis – lack of international political will, lack of media attention and lack of economic support – and analyzes most displacement crises in the world where more than 200,000 people are forced from their homes.
Since then, the area has experienced a series of earthquakes and tremors, some that were felt as far away as the Rwandan capital of Kigali, 65 miles from the volcano in the Virunga National Park.
10 neighborhoods in the city of Goma in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are to be evacuated due to risks following the deadly volcanic eruption on Saturday, including earthquakes and fear of another eruption.
The DRC Ministry for Communication spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a news conference in Kinshasa Thursday that the government's priority is the "preservation of human life."
The 10 neighborhoods include Majengo, Virunga and Murara as those are at the highest risk from the lava flow said Muyaya.
As the lava from the initial eruption cools "it travels across a number of areas," he added.
DRC scientists "still do not have a clear response as to what is happening right now" he said, saying this disaster differs from others recorded in the past.
However, the latest observations from the scientists have indicated that the frequency and intensity of the earthquakes have reduced.
The most powerful quake measured 5.2 on the Richter scale, Muyaya said.
Despite this, the DRC government made the evacuation order based on four different risks to the people and area of Goma.
One key risk is an increase in the earthquakes observed since the eruption. Scientists also fear the possibility of a secondary volcanic eruption taking place if the lava encounters one of the many fissures that have formed in the earth.
The threat posed by the ashes emitted into the atmosphere has also been highlighted Muyaya said. He instructed residents to be careful when purchasing fruit and vegetables as toxic volcanic dust may have settled on the goods.
There is also a risk of gas exploding from underneath a lake in the area.
"The return of evacuees to their homes cannot be envisaged until all threats are totally eliminated" Muyaya stressed.
Provincial authorities are continuing to work with the national police and armed forces to escort the evacuees along the evacuation routes.
Those fleeing Goma may either take the route east towards the locality of Sake or along the reopened Rutshuru route towards the north.
Muyaya concluded by asking the population to "stay vigilant" and listen out for information from the authorities "taking into account the fact that the situation may evolve rapidly."
Hundreds of children are feared missing or were separated from their families after Mount Nyiragongo erupted in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Saturday.
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Sunday that the children were lost amid chaos as residents fled the nearby city of Goma. More than 150 children have been separated from their families and more than 170 children are feared to be missing, the agency said.
Around 8,000 people crossed into Rwanda from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to seek refuge following the eruption of the volcano, Rwanda's Emergency Management Ministry said Sunday.
"This morning, after lava flows from Nyiragongo volcano have stopped, most of Congolese evacuated to Rubavu are returning back home. Rwanda received around 8000 people last night," the ministry said on its official Twitter account Sunday.
Thousands of residents in Goma spent the night outdoors following eruption on Saturday, according to a spokesperson for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
"There has not been a massive panic movement, but people are really worried," said Tom Peyre-Costa, the council's spokesperson for west and central Africa.
"Everywhere in the city you see people walking with their belongings, their children and even their goats and whatever they could grab. Most of them are just sitting by the road waiting to be able to go back any time soon," Peyre-Costa said.
But hundreds could return to find damaged homes and dangerous shortages of water and electricity, UNICEF said.
The children's agency is sending a team to the area to work on limiting the spread of cholera. It is also establishing two transit centers for unaccompanied and separated children, in collaboration with the local Congolese authorities.
A leading humanitarian organization, the NRC has said the DRC was suffering through "the world's most neglected displacement crisis" as multiple conflicts forced 2 million people to flee their homes in 2020.
"A lethal combination of spiraling violence, record hunger levels and total neglect has ignited a mega-crisis that warrants a mega-response," NRC Secretary General Jan Egeland in a statement. "But instead, millions of families on the brink of the abyss seem to be forgotten by the outside world and are left shut off from any support lifeline," he added.
The NRC said that a third of the country's population – 27 million people, including more than 3 million children – do not have enough food to feed themselves.
Since then, the area has experienced a series of earthquakes and tremors, some that were felt as far away as the Rwandan capital of Kigali, 65 miles from the volcano in the Virunga National Park.
Significant cracks in the ground – some stretching the entire width of the road, others in the walls of buildings – have begun to appear. A resident told CNN that some of his neighbors in high-rise buildings have fled their homes out of fear that they might collapse.
"The data from seismic activity indicates the presence of magma beneath the urban area of Goma and beneath the Kivu lake," the military governor of North Kivu province, General Constant Ndima, said during a news conference on Thursday.
"Because of this data we cannot exclude another eruption on the earth or under the lake, this could arrive without any warning," he added, urging people to follow the order and warning them to stay away from the lava.
"You could die from asphyxiation or suffer serious burns," he said.
Goma is the capital of the North Kivu province, sitting at the edge of Lake Kivu on the DRC border with Rwanda. According to official projections from the United Nations, World Bank and others, the city is home to approximately 670,000 people. However a number of nongovernmental organizations in the region say the population closer to 1 million.
The initial eruption destroyed at least 900 houses and flattened five schools, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
The eruption has damaged power and water supplies to the city. As of Wednesday, power had been partially restored, but water supplies were still cut, a spokesperson for the NRC told CNN.
A leading humanitarian organization, the NRC has said the DRC was suffering through "the world's most neglected displacement crisis" as multiple conflicts forced 2 million people to flee their homes in 2020.