It has been established that the Friday evening strong earthquake severely destroyed more than 22 houses, killed one child due to collapsing house and injured more than 20 people in Rusizi district, western province.

The ground shaking scenario happened at around 6:00pm and the injured were immediately rushed to Gihundwe hospital. The incident left a 4 year old child, Fabrice ishimwe dead. This has been confirmed by Dr. Placide Nshizirungu, the director of the hospital.

Kamembe, Gihundwe, Nkanka, Nkungu sectors are some of the areas severely hit by the disaster. The executive secretary of Kamembe sector said more figures are being gathered to estimate the damaged.

Reports say two people were killed by the same mild earthquake in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and rattled homes in Bukavu. Only five were injured in the main town in South Kivu province.

Recently a 5.7 magnitude earthquake also hit the country and other areas of the world on 10th September. The incident left 19 people dead in Tanzania and more than 250 injured.

Last year Rwanda unveiled the National Risk Atlas, a new document with maps providing a comprehensive disaster risk profile of the country.

The map shows how zones located near Lake Kivu basin are more exposed to earthquake hazards.

Rwandan territory and the Western Rift Valley of Africa (WRA), in general, tend to experience severe shallow earthquakes. Between 2002 and 2008, five earthquakes struck the province causing death and damages in the western province.