Residents line up for water in volcano-ravaged Goma; 90,000 left homeless search for shelter

by Chris Tomlinson
Associated Press Writer

GOMA, Congo - Thousands of Congolese lined up for water at a church and other points around this wrecked city yesterday as relief agencies trucked in food and tents for some 90,000 people left homeless by a volcanic eruption.

Aid workers were setting up water distribution systems and planning to start delivering food today in Goma, where tens of thousands fled the streams of lava that cut through the lakeside city from Thursday's eruption of Mount Nyiragongo.

"We are finally getting some momentum on distributing aid," said Michael Despine, the head of the International Rescue Committee's operation in Goma.

Earthquakes related to the eruption continued to rattle the region yesterday. In neighboring Rwanda, just across the border from Goma, more than 288 homes and 19 schools have been destroyed since the tremors began last week, the Ministry of Local Government said.

While trucks loaded with blankets and plastic sheeting rumbled down Goma's streets, hundreds of aid workers and U.N. staff from around the world met in a hotel to coordinate the relief effort. More than 30 percent of Goma's residential neighborhoods were destroyed by lava, said Ross Mountain, the U.N. deputy emergency relief coordinator. An estimated 90