Indian Army rushes to aid Congo town hit by volcano eruption

Recently, an active volcano overlooking Congo’s Goma town erupted, Indian Army rushed to assist in evacuation of locals and other UN personnel in the affected region.

Daily Current Affairs Quiz 2021

Notably, the Indian Army has a significant presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo as part of MONUSCO, a UN peacekeeping mission headquartered in the eastern town of Goma and bordering Rwanda.

Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 m in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift.

It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 12 km north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu.

The main crater is about two kilometres (1 mi) wide and usually contains a lava lake. Nyiragongo’s lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history.

Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40 per cent of Africa’s historical volcanic eruptions.