2008 Lake Kivu earthquake

2008 Lake Kivu earthquake

Date	February 3, 2008 (2008-02-03)
Magnitude	5.9 Mw
Depth	10 kilometres (6 mi)
Epicenter	2.314°S 28.896°E / -2.314; 28.896
Countries or regions	Rwanda Burundi DR Congo Kenya
Casualties	at least 39 dead, 349+ injured

The 2008 Lake Kivu earthquake shook several countries in Africa's Great Lakes region at 07:34:12 (GMT) on February 3. It measured 5.9 on the moment magnitude scale according to the United States Geological Survey and lasted about 15 seconds. The epicentre was 20 kilometres north of Bukavu at Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Tectonic summary

According to the USGS,

The earthquake occurred in the Western Rift of the East African rift system. The East African rift system is a diffuse, approximately 3000-km-long, zone of crustal extension that passes through eastern Africa from Djibouti and Eritrea on the north to Malawi on the south and that constitutes the boundary between the Africa plate on the west and the Somalia plate on the east. At the earthquake's latitude, the Africa and Somalia plates are spreading apart at a rate of about four millimeters per year. The earthquake occurred near Lake Kivu, the basin of which was created by normal faulting similar to that which produced the February 3 earthquake. The largest earthquake to have occurred in the rift system since 1900 had a magnitude of about 7.6. The epicenter of the February 3, 2008, earthquake is within several tens of kilometers of the epicenter of a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that killed two people in Goma in October 2002. Earthquakes within the East African rift system occur as the result of both normal faulting and strike-slip faulting.

Details

At least 25 people are confirmed dead in Rwanda, with a further 200 seriously injured. Ten people were killed when a church collapsed in the Rusizi District of Western Province in Rwanda, according to Rwanda radio. In the Democratic Republic of Congo they have confirmed at least 5 dead and 149 seriously injured.

The earthquake was felt in Burundi, causing a break in the electricity supply, and as far as the Kenyan capital Nairobi.

Similar earthquakes

Other notable 5.9 MW earthquakes

Date	Areas affected	Notes	Fatalities
October 1, 1987	Southern California, United States	see 1987 Whittier Narrows earthquake	8
October 31, 2002	Italy (Molise)	see 2002 Molise earthquake	28
May 24, 2008	Colombia (near Bogota)	see May 2008 Colombia earthquake	33

External links

• USGS Earthquake Hazards Program report