East African Rift, Western Branch
Uganda / DRC / Tanzania · continental rift · 6865.0 km of mapped active fault in 89 traces
background as of 7 November 2026.
consistent with baseline
| Window | the last 30.0 days |
|---|---|
| Earthquakes counted | 0 at M4.5 or above |
| Expected in that window | 0.51 |
What this system normally does
From 1995 to 2025 the catalogue holds 188 earthquakes of M4.5 or larger attributable to this system: about 6.27 a year. That figure is what "elevated" on this page is measured against.
The fault itself
| Mapped length | 6865.0 km |
|---|---|
| Traces | 89 |
| Tectonic setting | continental rift |
| Slip types | Normal |
| Depth attributed to it | down to 50.0 km |
| Extent | -9.68 to 2.20 latitude, 28.31 to 31.85 longitude |
Recorded history
NOAA's hazard records hold 16 significant earthquakes attributed to this system since 1910.
The deadliest was the 17 January 2002 magnitude 4.7 earthquake (Rwanda: Gisenyi), which killed 1,001 people.
The strongest earthquake on record here was magnitude 7.3, on 13 December 1910 (Tanzania: Rukwa).
The most recent entry is the 25 May 2021 magnitude 4.7 earthquake (Rwanda: Rubavu; Congo), which killed 32 people.
Across the entries that record a death toll, 1,293 people died.
| Date | What | Where | Toll |
|---|---|---|---|
| 17 January 2002 | magnitude 4.7 earthquake | Rwanda: Gisenyi | 1,001 dead, 307 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 20 March 1966 | magnitude 6.6 earthquake | Uganda: Kichwamba, Bondibogyo; Tanzania; Dr Congo | 157 dead, $2 million damage |
| 3 February 2008 | magnitude 5.9 earthquake | Congo: Bukavu | 47 dead, 99 homes destroyed, $7 million damage |
| 25 May 2021 | magnitude 4.7 earthquake | Rwanda: Rubavu; Congo | 32 dead, 5,000 homes destroyed, damage $5 to 25 million |
| 22 September 1960 | magnitude 6.6 earthquake | Congo: Lake Tanganyika | 24 dead, damage $1 to 5 million |
| 5 February 1994 | magnitude 6.2 earthquake | Uganda: Fort Portal, Kasese; Zambia | 9 dead, $70 million damage |
| 23 September 2016 | magnitude 4.8 earthquake | Rwanda: Risuzi; Congo: Ukavu | 8 dead, 22 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million |
| 5 December 2005 | magnitude 6.8 earthquake | Congo: Kalemie | 6 dead, 300 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million |
| 7 August 2015 | magnitude 5.8 earthquake | Rwanda: Bukavu | 3 dead |
| 24 February 2004 | magnitude 4.7 earthquake | Burundi: Ruyaga | 3 dead, 24 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million |
| 24 October 2002 | magnitude 6.2 earthquake | Congo: Goma, Lwiro, Bukavu; Rwanda: Mugera, Kigali | 2 dead, damage under $1 million |
| 14 February 2008 | magnitude 4.9 earthquake | Rwanda: Gisenyi | 1 dead, $100 million damage |
| 13 December 1910 | magnitude 7.3 earthquake | Tanzania: Rukwa | damage $1 to 5 million |
| 8 July 1919 | magnitude 7.0 earthquake | Tanzania: Rukwa | damage $5 to 25 million |
| 2 October 2000 | magnitude 6.5 earthquake | Tanzania: Nkansi, Rukwa | 7 homes destroyed, damage under $1 million |
| 24 February 2017 | magnitude 5.9 earthquake | Zambia: Kaputa | damage under $1 million |
A dash means NOAA recorded no number, not that nobody died. Older entries are fewer because fewer were written down, not because less happened.
Recorded history: NOAA NCEI hazard databases, public domain, retrieved 2026-10-22.
Where these numbers come from
Fault geometry, length and segment counts: GEM Global Active Faults Database (GEM GAF-DB), GEM Foundation, https://github.com/GEMScienceTools/gem-global-active-faults Licence: CC-BY-SA-4.0. Figures derived from it here are offered under the same licence. Earthquake counts, magnitudes and depths: United States Geological Survey, public domain. The activity judgement is ours, computed from those two inputs, and is not a statement by either agency.