GISENYI (Rwanda), Jan 20: International efforts to help hundreds of thousands of people left homeless by a volcanic eruption in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) gained momentum on Sunday, while many returned to an area left unscathed by the disaster.

The eastern city of Goma and its surrounding areas were hit overnight by the most powerful earth tremor since Mount Nyiragongo erupted Thursday, swallowing buildings and forcing residents to flee in its wake.

Earth movements died down on Sunday afternoon, with the occasional minor shakes still felt.

Food and shelter materials arrived as part of a massive United Nations operation to assist those who fled the DRC city to the adjacent Rwandan town of Gisyeni, but most people shunned the UN camps.

Instead, many thousands returned to Goma, or what was left of it.

According to the Congolese Rally for Democracy (RCD), the Kigali-backed rebel group that is headquartered in Goma, 80 percent of what it called “useful Goma” — administrative and commercial buildings and their environs — and 40 percent of greater Goma had been destroyed.

Fears that more than 100,000 people in western Goma were critically short of food were found to be exaggerated, as life there was continuing almost as if there had been no volcanic eruption.

Previously inaccessible areas of the semi-razed city became reachable again Sunday as a solid crust formed on part of a lava flow that had cut the city in half, destroying or engulfing everything in its path.—AFP