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6.8 Earthquake hits East Africa
Many people were feared dead after an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale hit East Africa. The earthquake struck near the town of Kalemie on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the Democratic Republic of Congo, 975km (600 miles) southwest of Nairobi.Tremors were felt across Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. Hundreds of workers were evacuated from offices in Nairobi. The UN said that deaths and injuries had been reported in Kalemie, which has a population of 200,000. A spokesman said: âThere is quite a lot of damage to these poorly constructed houses. Residents told us that some people had died but we do not have any figures yet.â Fidel Muteba, a community leader, said: âI have heard of at least one death and many injuries, but we need to check more in the poor neighbourhoods where houses have been damaged.â Andrzej Kijko, head of seismology at South Africaâs Council for Geoscience, said: âA quake of this kind could easily produce significant damage, but I wonder what kind of infrastructure they have in the region. There may not have been much to destroy.â Posted by: Pappy 2005-12-06 |
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