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CNN Live At Daybreak

Goma Refugees Return To Ruins, Homelessness

Aired January 22, 2002 - 05:36   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Turning overseas to the aftermath of that devastating volcano eruption around Goma, Congo. It's terrible. International relief agencies are trying to get food, water and other supplies to the thousands of people left homeless by last Thursday's eruption.

Tim Ewart of I-TV News is in Goma with more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TIM EWART, I-TV NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The volcano, Mount Nyiragongo, was still boiling and rumbling, still menacing those living in its shadow. But refugees who fled are pouring back, trudging across lava that still burns underfoot.

Edu Mohima (ph) led us to the place where his home stood until last week. The area is now a wasteland.

(on camera): You have lost everything.

EDU MOHIMA, VOLCANO VICTIM: Yes, all things. The clothes what I wear here is all what I have.

EWART: Only the clothes that you are wearing.

MOHIMA: All of them, but (UNINTELLIGIBLE) the house.

EWART (voice-over): As people picked through the wreckage, there is a growing anger in Goma, a resentment that the world is not doing enough to help.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Very angry again. We are here, but, see, we're missing something to eat. We are going to sink, and then our sink is burning with the fire.

EWART: Some supplies are being distributed. Here by a local church, but little in the worst-affected areas. Relief efforts appear to be concentrated across the border in Rwanda.

(on camera): Of course, the people of Goma need food and clothing and most urgently fresh water, but their homes are gone forever. This part of town is beyond salvation. The lava has become part of the scenery. (voice-over): The shell of what was Goma's Cathedral stands forlornly amidst the rubble. Houses have been destroyed, livelihoods ruined.

Nonomer Sensi (ph) ran a thriving restaurant and dance club now buried under the lava. "I am destitute" he says.

He is not alone. Congo's new army of the homeless face a desperate future. They have come back to a place that offers only misery.

Tim Ewart, I-TV News, Goma.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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