   #copyright

2005 Lake Tanganyika earthquake

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Natural Disasters

   Location of earthquake
   Location of earthquake

   An earthquake along the East African Great Rift Valley faultline struck
   at 12:19:55 ( UTC) (14:19:55 local time at the epicentre) on 5 December
   2005 approximately 10 km (6 miles) below the surface of Lake
   Tanganyika. Its estimated magnitude was between 6.3 and 6.8.

   Early reports indicated that the heaviest damage was sustained by the
   eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a
   region already ravaged by extensive war and extreme poverty. The area
   houses tens of thousands of refugees displaced by conflicts, such as
   the Second Congo War and the Burundian Civil War, that have plagued the
   African Great Lakes for the last decade.

   Two deaths have been reported so far. Dozens of houses collapsed in the
   DRC city of Kalemie. Michel Bonnardeaux, a UN spokesman, said that most
   of the casualties were caused by falling zinc or steel roofs.

   Although earthquakes with magnitudes in the 6-7 range are not normally
   associated with massive damage, in East Africa such seismic events can
   wreak havoc. The quake was centred roughly below Lake Tanganyika and —
   in addition to the DRC, where the most widespread damage has been
   reported — it was felt in Burundi, Tanzania, Rwanda, and as far away as
   the coastal city of Mombasa in Kenya.

   The tremor was felt in places as far as Luanda, Angola, where it was
   felt for around 20 seconds, enough to send people running in panic in
   search of a shelter. No damage was reported there.
   Retrieved from "
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Lake_Tanganyika_earthquake"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
