Dear John,

My colleague Astrid wrote to you last week about the volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

I certainly never imagined I would have to flee from a volcanic eruption. But last Saturday, I saw the sky turn orange as lava poured out of Mount Nyiragongo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Boiling lava flooded towards the city of Goma, where I live with my UNHCR colleagues among its nearly two million inhabitants. People ran in all directions. Entire villages were immediately destroyed, and many more homes are now being demolished by repeated, violent earthquakes.

Over 400,000 people were displaced by the eruption inside the country. Thousands more sought safety in neighbouring Rwanda. They are all in urgent need of help.

Fearing a second eruption, the government has ordered an evacuation. As families fled, myself and other UNHCR staff have temporarily relocated to where people were heading in order to continue providing assistance. It felt like we were running for our lives. Even after safely arriving here in Sake, to the northwest of Goma, I still felt as if the ground was shaking under my feet.  

It’s a terrible feeling – but what the Congolese people are going through is far worse. 

I’ve been working in the DR Congo with UNHCR since 2019 – and the emergencies keep piling up. Families have already faced years of violent conflict that displaced more than 2 million people only in the North Kivu province. Then, the Ebola outbreak. In 2020, COVID-19 hit. And now this volcanic eruption has caused even more unimaginable tragedy.

I’ve spoken to many brave families here – even young girls – who have little more than the clothes on their back and the painful memories of yet another disaster that has cost them everything.

Our UNHCR teams are also under threat, but we’ve immediately mobilized. Amid the challenges, here and across the border in Rwanda we’re providing emergency shelter, clean water, latrines, hot meals, blankets and other relief items to vulnerable families sleeping in the open.

There are so many people who need our help, and there is so much work to be done.

The situation might still get worse. The lava flow has stopped for now, but earthquakes keep happening and there could be another eruption any day now. This is one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes.

I don’t know what’s going to happen next. What I do know is that UNHCR is here to stay and deliver much needed support.

We have already helped 4,000 families who had to sleep in the open air by providing emergency shelters - they now have protection to cover themselves from the rain.

We urgently have to scale up our supplies so that we can respond to this crisis and save lives.

But we can’t do it alone.

Sanne Biesmans
Reporting Officer, Goma
UNHCR