APA – Kigali (Rwanda) – A 5.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Rwanda’s Western district of Karongi Sunday causing the destruction of some infrastructure , the country’s Mines, Petroleum and Gas Board said.
The board’s deputy director general, Dr Ivan Twagirashema explained that the epicenter was located in Karongi district western Rwanda near Lake Kivu, the western branch of the East African Rift.
The rift, according to experts, is known to be an active continental tectonic plate boundary where the African plate is in the process of splitting into two tectonic plates, called the Somali Plate and the Nubian Plate.
The Eastern Rift Valley includes the main Ethiopian rift, runs southward from the Afar triple junction, and continues south as the Kenyan rift valley then transects DR Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi and Mozambique.
Initial reports of damages or casualties released by local administrative officials in the affected zones indicate that the powerful quake caused the partial destruction of six residential houses in the area.
APA reports that the quake was felt significantly in the capital city Kigal but they did not leave damages or casualties so far.
CU/as/APA