Africa quake toll rises as homeless add to aid crisis

Breaking Earth News Update
Africa
Image: A Rwandan man clears bricks from a destroyed house after an earthquake

RWANDA - The death toll from a series of earthquakes that hit central Africa rose Monday to 44 as a major aid operation for hundreds of injured and thousands of homeless gathered pace amid new aftershocks. At least 38 people were killed in Rwanda's Western Province and six around the Democratic Republic of Congo city of Bukavu, which was near one epicentre, while more than 450 were hurt. Sunday's quakes, the biggest of which measured 6.0 on the open-ended Richter scale, caused huge communications problems after they struck close together along the western Rift Valley fault, cracking open the walls of houses and buildings. They caught many people in church for Sunday services, trapping them under rubble when the buildings collapsed.