Tens of thousands of people from the city of Goma have been displaced after authorities issued an evacuation order following a warning that Mount Nyiragongo could erupt again, CNN's Larry Madowo reports.
"They have no where to go because there was no plan," Madowo said. A majority of those fleeing are heading eastward towards Sake, a nearby town that is out of the red zone, while others have crossed the border into Rwanda.
"It's already the night here and there are still people trying to flee the city. Goma is essentially getting deserted. The whole day people have been trying to gather their belongings, just carrying what they can on their back and their children, so many children. They don't know what they will feed them.They don't know how long they're going to be away because the government says they don't when they can say when it's safe to return," Modowo said.
Authorities are concerned about a possible volcanic explosion, implosion from under the ground and damage from earthquakes that have been felt over the past few days, Modowo said.
"The lava appears to have cleared up, but the damage and the danger is far from gone," he added.
At least 31 people have died and 30,000 were forced to flee their homes when the Mount Nyiragongo volcano – about 12 km north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu – first erupted over the weekend.
The DRC Ministry for Communication spokesperson Patrick Muyaya told a news conference in Kinshasa earlier that the government's priority is the "preservation of human life."
Watch the full report here: