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American Morning

Braving Molten Rock and Earthquakes Following Eruption of a Volcano, Residents of Goma, Congo Return

Aired January 22, 2002 - 09:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Braving molten rock and earthquakes following the eruption of a volcano last week, residence of Goma, Congo continue to shun refugee camps and are streaming back into town.

They are hoping to be reunited the family, and salvage some of their possessions, but most of them are only finding disappointment.

CNN Chris Burns is in Gisenyi, Rwanda just across the border from Goma. He joins us live by videophone with more.

Good morning, Chris. What is the latest from there?

CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning.

The latest disappointment for a lot of people here is the rain, very heavy rain, that has made life even more difficult for the tens of thousands of people who are living really on the edge, living on the street in what is now mud now, trying to survive with very, very little help up until now from international aid agencies, in large part because the U.N. had decided that it was too dangerous to be here. They said it was a threat of the volcano, Niagoongo (ph), erupting once again and spewing more lava across Goma.

Also the question is the gasses from the lava already there, sheets of lava that are as high as a grown man. And also the water in the lake that's right behind me was contaminated by the eruption, and thus was too dangerous to drink.

Now a volcanologist who was hired by the U.N. decided that he said it doesn't look like there's any more eruptions, despite the continued earthquakes that we feel just about every hour in the last few days. They say that now it is their time to make a move and to try to address the problems of more than 120,000 who've back and filled Goma, even though half the city is destroyed. So a very, very difficult situation.

But the World Food program of the U.N. said that they're going to release 1,000 tons of food. They decided that today. That's going to pass on to a number of aid agencies, who are beginning to hand that out. Also bringing in water, blankets, other aid.

The aid is following these people, after aid agencies and the U.N. had originally tried to set them up in neighboring Rwanda. However, the people saw that when the volcano stopped erupting, they decided it was much better to go home, home as it were, whatever it is, however covered it was by lava.

Also the U.N. decided it was going to be sending much of that aid to a camp called Sake (ph), about 20 kilometers, 12 miles west of Buper (ph), inside the Congo, to help some 100,000 people in that area as well. Very, very difficult. How long is that food going to last? Only about a week, they say. They are going to need thousands more tons that they have stocked in Rwanda, so it's a very, very difficult slow process, it's not over yet, not over yet, and especially for these tens of thousands of people who are trying to survive in -- under the rain here and under the mud -- Paula.

ZAHN: Can't even imagine worse conditions than they are being subjected to now.

Chris, Burns, thanks for that live report.

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