adminAn earthquake killed two children and a police officer in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo early on Friday and triggered fears that a nearby volcano could erupt, government officials and witnesses said. The 5.6 magnitude quake hit 40 km north of the city of Bukavu, not far from the border with Rwanda at 3.25 a.m. (local time), the U.S. Geological Survey said.
“The earth moved violently. Everything shook. Then five minutes later there was another less violent tremor and then 15 minutes later another one. Everyone went out of their houses,” Bukavu resident Seraphin Kajilwami told Reuters.
Two children died in a house in the city and a police officer died near the airport, government spokesman Lambert Mende said.
Sources in Bukavu said medical centres were treating injured people and the toll could rise slightly. There were no reports of significant damage to buildings.
The government sent a team of vulcanologists to check for any new fissures near Mount Nyiragongo, said Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu province. The peak north of Goma is Africa’s most active volcano and erupted in 2002 sending a river of lava through the city.
North and South Kivu lie on Congo’s eastern border with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania, a region at the centre of a long conflict.
The provinces are part of the Great Lakes region and North Kivu contains the Virunga forest as well as other volcanoes.- AFP.
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