The 2005 Lake Tanganyika earthquake occurred along the East African Great Rift Valley, and struck at 12:19:55 (UTC) (14:19:55 local time at the epicentre) on 5 December 2005 with its focus approximately 10 km below the surface of Lake Tanganyika. Its estimated magnitude was between 6.3 and 6.8. Read more
At least 39 people have been killed and more than 300 hurt in a series of quakes in Africa's Great Lakes region. The two most powerful occurred hours apart in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring Rwanda, with magnitudes of 6.0 and 5.0 respectively.
A strong magnitude 6.0 earthquake occurred at 07:34:12 (UTC) on Sunday, February 03, 2008 in the Lac Kivu Region, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 20 km North of Bukavu, at a Depth of 10 km.
A strong magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred at 21:17:13 (UTC) on Wednesday, March 28, 2007 in the Lake Tanganyika Region, Congo-Tanzania, 79 km East of Kalemie, at a Depth of 10 km.
The East African Rift System is a 50-59 Kilometre wide zone of active volcanism and faulting that extends north-south in eastern Africa for more than 3000 kilometres from Ethiopia in the north to Zambezi in the south. It is a rare example of an active continental rift zone, where a continental plate is attempting to split into two plates, which are moving away from one another.
The last such quake, a 6.5 magnitude quake occurred in October 2000.
Residents of Kalemie, an eastern Congolese town on the shores of Lake Tanganyika with a population of 200,000 people, said they saw buildings shake but had not seen any immediate damage in the town.
"Yes, it was very strong, everything shook for about 10 seconds. I saw buildings shaking" - Francois Xavier, a local journalist.
A strong magnitude 6.8 earthquake occurred at 12:19:55 (UTC) on Monday, December 5, 2005 in the Lake Tanganyika Region, Congo-Tanzania, 55 km SouthEast of Kalemie, at a Depth of 10 km.