At least 21 people were killed and 200 seriously injured when two earthquakes struck Rwanda and neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, police and the US Geological Survey (USGS) said. The quakes struck close together in Africa's great lakes region along the same western Great Rift Valley fault line.
The first quake, with a magnitude of 6.0 and its epicentre in Democratic Republic of Congo, happened at 10:30 am (0730 GMT), followed by another 5.0 quake in southern Rwanda. "Twenty one people are so far confirmed dead in the earthquake. Two hundred have serious injuries," Deputy Rwandan Police Chief Mary Gahonzire told Reuters. Congo officials did not immediately have a death toll from the earthquake there.