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world news Diabierna 28 Mei 2021

Thousands evacuate Congo's Goma amid renewed volcano threat

(AP) — Tens of thou- said. An eruption under Lake nos, turned the dark sky fiery
sands of people are flee- Kivu could also have harm- red Saturday night and then
ing the city of Goma in ful consequences by leading spewed torrents of lava into
eastern Congo fearing to an explosion of gas in the villages on the outskirts of
another volcanic eruption lake, which could destroy Goma destroying more than
by Mount Nyiragongo, parts of Goma and Gisenyi in 500 homes and resulting in
which spewed lava near neighboring Rwanda. the deaths of more than 32
the city last week. Traffic people.
was jammed and pedestri- Residents were advised to
ans streamed through the carry very little and told not Scientists at the volcano ob-
streets, desperate to es- to return to their homes until servatory weren’t able to
cape the impending dan- advised by authorities. Au- adequately warn the public
ger. thorities provided vehicles of the eruption because of a
for the evacuations. funding cut, according to the
A new eruption could occur scientific director of the Vol-
at any moment, the military Many people were seen canic Observatory of Goma,
governor of Congo’s North heading northwest toward Celestin Kasereka Mahinda.
Kivu province, Lt. Gen. the town of Sake and east to-
Constant Ndima Kongba, ward Rwanda. International A partnership between the
announced Thursday. He or- organizations such as the government and the World cause I have no choice,” said everything she owned.
dered the evacuation of 10 of U.N. mission in Congo had Bank that had supported the Alliance Simba who was leav-
the 18 neighborhoods in the on Wednesday already begun observatory was cut in Octo- ing with her son. “The first time there was an
city of nearly 2 million resi- evacuating their staff. ber 2020 because of the coro- eruption we lost everything,
dents. navirus pandemic, leaving Aminata Kavira, another today we still take the same
Maguy Balume told The As- the observatory without even woman evacuating, said had road as in 2002,” she said.
Full of fear, residents from sociated Press by phone that internet, he said. The obser- no idea where she would go,
many of the unlisted neigh- she left her home with her vatory had just started to re- but grabbed her belongings Government spokesman Pat-
borhoods also fled after no two children and is heading sume operations last month and left her home. rick Muyaya said the situa-
warnings of Saturday’s erup- for Sake. thanks to new funding from tion was complex and Goma
tion left so many in harm’s the U.S. Geological Survey’s “We knew that the situation faced a number of risks: in-
way. “I am with my two children Volcano Disaster Assistance was becoming precarious,” creased earthquakes, another
heading toward Sake, after Program, which means the Kizito Alexis, a resident of volcanic eruption, a gas ex-
The center of Goma, which leaving my home. My hus- observatory can at least gath- Goma told AP, adding they plosion under the lake, and
was spared when the volcano band is on a mission in Kin- er data after the eruption. have been told lava will likely ambient environmental tox-
erupted last week, is now un- shasa and I don’t know how hit their homes. “The situ- icity caused by volcanic ash.
der threat, with activity being I’m going to meet him,” she Data wasn’t needed for many ation is serious and all the
reported near the urban area said. “I don’t think about my who felt hundreds of after- people are leaving and I am Mount Nyiragongo’s last
and Lake Kivu, Kongba said. house because my family’s shocks this past week that leaving for Bukavu,” a city eruption was in 2002, leav-
safety and health come first. have left gigantic cracks in about 100 kilometers (62 ing hundreds dead. The
“Based on these scientific I can build another house if I the ground and destroyed miles) from Goma. lava coated the airport run-
observations, we cannot cur- want to. I know that my God buildings. The volcano sits ways and also left more than
rently rule out an eruption on will save Goma.” about 6 miles from Goma. Suzana Komayombi said the 100,000 homeless in the af-
land or under the lake. And need to flee was all too famil- termath. The volcano also
this could happen with very Mount Nyiragongo, one of “I am fleeing the volcano, iar, as she also evacuated in erupted in 1977, killing more
little, or no, warning,” he the world’s most active volca- I am going to Rutshuru be- 2002 before an eruption took than 600 people.

Production of another COVID-19 vaccine to begin in weeks

(AP) — Production of another and development at Sanofi Pasteur,
potential vaccine against CO- as saying: “We are encouraged to see
VID-19 will begin within weeks, first vaccinations starting to take place
its developers Sanofi and Glaxo- in such an important, pivotal Phase 3
SmithKline said Thursday as they study.”
launched a large trial enrolling
35,000 adult volunteers in the Earlier this month, the firms said
United States, Asia, Africa and their vaccine candidate triggered
Latin America. strong immune responses in all adult
age groups in preliminary trials after
The study will test vaccine candidate an earlier setback, boosting optimism
formulas against the original corona- the shot may join the fight against the
virus that spread from Wuhan, Chi- pandemic this year.
na, and against the variant first seen
in South Africa, the pharmaceutical After two doses of the vaccine candi-
firms said. date, participants showed antibodies
in line with those found in people
If the trial is successful, regulators who had recovered from the disease,
could approve the vaccine for use in according to results of the previous,
the last three months of the year, the smaller trial.
drugmakers said in a statement.
Regulators have already authorized
“Manufacturing will begin in the a number of COVID-19 vaccines,
coming weeks to enable rapid ac- though experts say more are needed
cess to the vaccine, should it be ap- as public health authorities around
proved,” they said. the world race to vaccinate their
residents amid a pandemic that has
Their statement quoted Thomas Tri- already killed more than 3.4 million
omphe, who leads vaccine research people and caused economic havoc.