GOMA, Congo ó Religious missionary communities in Congo have mobilized to distribute aid to the victims of the volcanic eruption that partially buried the city of Goma.

Caritas International and Caritas-Goma are assessing the number of people who have lost their homes in the wake of the eruption of Mount Nyiragongo on Jan. 17.

U.N. officials estimated that 45 people were killed when the volcanic eruption sent up to 6 feet of lava flowing in a path that overran several villages before cutting through Goma. The eruption filled the air with ash and released toxic gases, polluting water supplies.

A Jan. 21 gasoline station explosion set off by hot lava added to the Goma disaster; witnesses said as many as 60 people might have died.

Antonina Lo Schiavo, a lay missionary who has spent 30 years in Congo helping Xaverian missionaries, said that “by covering the central part of the city, the lava has cut Goma in half, engulfing everything it found in its path.”

Damage is considerable. More than 80% of the buildings have collapsed or are seriously damaged. U.N. officials have described it as a “humanitarian catastrophe.”

“Aid is arriving,” Lo Schiavo added. “We are creating teams of people to distribute it, in order to avoid plundering and lynching.”

U.N. offices in Geneva estimate that $15 million in emergency aid is needed immediately. Food and water are lacking and people are threatened with infections.

Aid from the U.N. High Commission for Refugees has left Ngara in western Tanzania. It includes food, blankets and plastic tents for 15,000 families.

Thirty tons of aid of the U.N.'s World Food Program has arrived in Kigali, the capital of Rwanda. The aid comes from Italy and Norway.

Pope John Paul II has urged humanitarian aid for the more than 300,000 Congolese left homeless by Africa's worst volcanic eruption in 25 years.

A telegram sent in the Pope's name to Church leaders in Goma said he was praying that those deprived of shelter, food and water would receive the necessary assistance from international agencies.

The telegram called the eruption a “terrible drama” for people of the region.

At a noon blessing Jan. 20 from his apartment window above St. Peterís Square, the Pope said, “I assure you of my spiritual closeness to the populations stricken by the Nyiragongo volcano ... which in recent days has resumed its activity with unheard-of violence.

“Our concrete help should not be lacking to those suffering the effects of this great calamity,” he said.

Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development agency, said the need for safe drinking water was the No. 1 priority, because the risk of cholera was high.

Aid workers outside of Goma were trying to set up food and water distribution points for the displaced after molten lava literally divided the city and swept through homes Jan. 17. The city's cathedral was destroyed by the flow.

But the aid agencies also had to deal with an unexpected reverse exodus as many of the homeless returned to pick through the ruins in Goma, braving tremors and new eruptions in the hope of salvaging something. Some of the refugees said they were not comfortable remaining in neighboring Rwanda, which has given aid to Congolese rebels.

Congo, formerly Zaire, has been torn by civil strife since 1998.

Said Lo Schiavo, “Now that the eruption has ended, people are returning to the city, because they say it is better to die in oneís country than in Rwanda, a foreign country.”

(From combined wire services)