January 18, 2002

6:49 AM

An estimated 300,000 people have fled across the Congolese/Rwandan border to escape lava flow from the recently erupted Mt Nyiragongo volcano. Many are thought to have died, but this mass movement has prompted fears that a much larger humanitarian disaster may be imminent.
More photographs here, map of the region here.
posted by davehat (4 comments total)

wow. those pictures are amazing. esp. the guy looking on from the sidewalk(?) with his mouth covered. i found this helpful infographic on yahoo.
posted by kliuless at 8:07 AM on January 18, 2002

A natural disaster that will make an unnatural one worse.

No words.
posted by culberjo at 2:12 PM on January 18, 2002

I'm watching the Nightline coverage on this right now, davehat--makes me feel ashamed I didn't check this link before. Thank you for posting it--it deserves more attention.
posted by y2karl at 11:51 PM on January 18, 2002

It's amazing what we as humans do to one another in light of the fact that we're all susceptible to natural disaster. On one small planet, we persistently believe we're better than, safer than, more civilized than someone elsewhere on that same planet. For shame that we as members of society writ large, cannot just let mother nature kill us off before we do it to ourselves. We all can choke on a pretzel, we all could develop kidney disease, we all could die in a volcanic eruption. Jesus, Allah, America, Israel, Palestine, Wal-Mart notwithstanding.
posted by crasspastor at 1:33 AM on January 19, 2002