DAR ES SALAAM, SEP 11: The number of people killed by the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that struck northwest Tanzania has increased to 13, while 203 are reported injured.
“The number of deaths increased from 11 people to 13 while the injured rose from 192 to 203 people,” said Bukoba District Commissioner Deodatus Kinawilo, according to AFP. Bukoba is the town nearest to the epicentre of the earthquake.
““For now, the situation is calm and under control,” said Kinawilo, who was reached by telephone. “Some people have been discharged from hospital. We don’t expect many more injuries.”
Residents of Bukoba had said that some houses had caved in, and Augustine Ollomi, the Kagera province police chief in charge of the Bukoba district, said rescue operations were ongoing.
The earthquake was felt as far away as Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and Kenya, the US Geological Survey said.
“The walls of my home shook as well as the fridge and the cupboards,” said an AFP correspondent in the Ugandan capital of Kampala. The epicentre of the quake was about 25km east of the north-western town of Nsunga on the border of Lake Victoria.
