Guerchom Ndebo, October 14, 2021
- Only 42 percent of DRC’s 81 million population has access to safe water, with most of them living in urban centers, such as the capital Kishansha and Goma city.
- In this photo story, Guerchom Ndebo documents the woes that residents of the villages surrounding the volcano, including Goma city suburbs, face as they struggle to bring water home for consumption, sanitation, and hygiene services.
Just like what happened in 2002, when the Mount Nyiragongo in North Kivu province of Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) erupted again in May 2021, hundreds of thousands of residents of Goma city were left without clean water, according to the international medical agency Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
Lava from the May 22 eruption destroyed 17 villages, killed at least 32 persons, and left close to half a million people homeless. Also, it melted their water pipes and damaged a 5000m³ reservoir for the northern part of the city.
Without water access, the affected communities were at risk of waterborne diseases.
“More clean water should be urgently provided; cholera is endemic in the area and poses a huge threat to people, including to the host communities,” Magali Roudaut, MSF head of mission in DRC, said days after the eruption.