African quakes kill at least 38, hundreds injured

By Arthur Asiimwe

KIGALI (Reuters) - Earthquakes struck Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, killing at least 38 people and seriously injuring up to 550 more, officials said.

The two quakes struck close together in Africa's Great Lakes region along the western Great Rift Valley fault.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.0 and its epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, happened at 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT), followed by another 5.0 quake in densely populated southern Rwanda at 1:56 p.m. (1056 GMT).

"The death toll (in Rwanda) has risen to 33 people and up to 400 are seriously injured," Deputy Rwandan Police Chief Mary Gahonzire told Reuters. She said rescue efforts were underway.

The acting governor of Congo's South Kivu province, Bernard Watunakanza, told Reuters by telephone from the eastern town of Bukavu that aftershocks were happening "every 20 or 30 minutes".

"Up to now there are five dead and 149 seriously injured. Many people are traumatised," he said.

Witnesses to the Congo quake told of scenes of panic.

"It was a fear that I cannot even explain. We thought we were already dead," said Bukavu resident Jacqueline Hachez.