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Powerful earthquake rocks southwestern Tanzania |
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October 3, 2000
DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, OCT 2 (UNB/AP) - A powerful earthquake rocked a southwestern region of Tanzania early Monday, damaging houses located more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the quake's epicenter, police said. The quake, which occurred around the Kipili peninsula of Lake Tanganyika in the Rukwa region, 960 kilometers (595 miles) west of the capital Dar es Salaam, had a preliminary magnitude of 6.6, the U.S. Geological Society reported. A 6.6 quake can cause severe damage in urban areas but the Tanzanian earthquake occurred in a rural, sparsely populated region with little infrastructure. No casualties were reported. Rukwa regional police chief Lameck Kebacho said the quake woke up residents in the region at 5:25 a.m. (0225 GMT), sending many rushing out of their homes. The police station is the only two-story building in the area, he said. "The district police headquarters ... have no reports of casualties and no reports of collapsed houses, bridges or other vital communication links," Kebacho said. "It was a massive quake, shaking the whole of Rukwa region and beyond and cracking up walls of concrete buildings as far as the regional capital which is found more than 100 kilometers (62 miles) away," Most of the people living in Rukwa are either peasant farmers or fisherman who live in mud huts.
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