5.7 earthquake hits northwest Tanzania, 11 dead and many injured

11 people have been confirmed dead and many others injured in the 5.7 magnitude earthquake that hit northwest Tanzania on Saturday afternoon at a depth of 10km.

The tremor hit Bukoba close to the western shore of Lake Victoria and Nsunga in the northeast.

Tanzanian police said over a hundred injured people have been hospitalized and rescue operations are ongoing.

“We have found 11 dead and over a hundred injured, many of them hospitalized. We are mobilizing and rescue operations are continuing,” the head of the Kagera provincial police Augustine Ollomi told AFP.

Most parts of East Africa also felt the tremor includ

ing Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya. The tremors were reported in Kigali, Iganga, Mbarara, Kabale, Kampala, Bujumbura, Bungoma among many other towns in the region between 12:00 GMT and 13:30 GMT.

Casualties have not yet been recorded in these areas.

Low-intensity earthquakes are regularly felt in the Great Lakes region making Saturday’s tremor an exception.