An earthquake on the border of Congo and Rwanda razed buildings in the city of Goma on Tuesday and stoked fears a nearby volcano would erupt again three days after dozens of people were killed and 17 villages were destroyed by lava. The quake, measured at 5.3 magnitude by the Rwandan Seismic Monitor, was the largest of over 100 tremors that have followed the eruption on Saturday of Congo's Mount Nyiragongo volcano, one of the world's most active and dangerous.
"We know that children were injured when a building collapsed on Tuesday just a few steps from the UNICEF office in Goma," the U.N.children's agency said.
The quake appeared to have destroyed several buildings in the city of two million, and a witness said at least three people were pulled from the rubble and taken to hospital.
It struck at 11:03 a.m., originating in Rugerero sector in western Rwanda, according to the Rwanda Seismic Monitor.
The city experienced 119 tremors on Monday, but the intensity has started to decrease, said Kasereka Mahinda, scientific director at the Goma Volcano Observatory.
The earthquakes were caused by the tectonic plates seeking to recover their equilibrium after the eruption, a phenomenon seen after the eruptions in 2002 and 1977.
"As soon as the rift recovers its balance, the tremors will stop," he told Reuters.
Multiple cracks in the earth have emerged in Goma in the last day, some several hundred meters (yards) long that cut across the city's main boulevards.
Poster Comment:
90 active volcanoes. We entered a Grand Solar Minimum. There will be lots of earthquakes and volcanoes over the next 4 decades.