Half a million people affected in erupting volcano disaster

Tens of thousands of people have lost their homes as a volcano erupts in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees continue to pour across the border into neighbouring Rwanda as Mount Nyiaragongo sends streams of lava through towns and villages.

A spokeswoman for the UN in Geneva, says as many as half a million people are thought to have been affected by the disaster.

Explosions continue as molten lava ignited petrol and kerosene stored by residents in plastic containers. Looters and armed robbers are taking advantage of the panic to make off with electronic equipment and other goods before the lava got to shops. At least 14 villages north of town were destroyed by three rivers of fire.

"This is terrible, my children have all disappeared, and I am confused and shocked," said Mulili Flaha, a Goma housewife who fled to Rwanda when the lava approached her house. Her husband and five children all ran in different directions.

The road leading into Gisenyi in Rwanda is clogged with vehicles and people on foot carrying foam mattresses, cooking pots and babies.

"Right now, we have no office or home because they were destroyed by the lava," said businessman Eloi Mboso Kiamfu as he prepared to set off for the border. "Goma almost does not exist any more."

Florian Westphal, Red Cross regional information officer, says 80% of the town had been damaged. Westphal says two of the three water purification plants in the city of an estimated 500,000 inhabitants are no longer operational.

Adolphe Onusumba, head of the Rwandan-backed rebels who control Goma and the surrounding region, says Lake Kivu, one of a chain of volcanic lakes that runs down the western edge of the Great Rift Valley, has been polluted by lava.

In Brussels, EU spokesman Michael Curtis says relief experts are on the ground to assess what emergency aid will be needed. It is likely food supplies and shelter materials will be the first priority, he said.