Earthquake 1 : Sunday 3 Feb

On Sunday 3 Feb an earthquake hit our region of Rwanda, epicentre about 20km from us, force 6.0. The death toll is about 35 in Rwanda and 6 in DRC.

We were getting ready to go to church when there was a low rumble, followed very quickly by the house starting to shake. It was our first experience of an earthquake, so it took a little while to realise what was happening, but the first thought was to get out of the house. It is a truly frightening experience to have the earth move beneath you, even if it only is for a few seconds. Standing on the grass, we could hear the eerie sound of human shouting and wailing from across the water. Normally the city of Bukavu is almost completely quiet.
The quake was strong enough to shake things off shelves, but tidying the house did not take too long. The smell of vinegar from the broken bottle lingered for quite a while. The rest of the day went something like this :
Morning : We went to church, but Sheena took home a group of schoolchildren who were parked outside spreading fear to each other and I spent some time ferrying people with injuries to the diocesan clinic and to the local hospital. There were not too many of these and the injuries were mostly minor : it was soon apparent that a lot of the damage was relatively slight. The rumour mills were working overtime of course : 200 dead in Bukavu, a landslide in Bweyeye and a family in Kamembe killed while watching TV were all reported but later found to be false.
Afternoon : in coordination with other diocesan staff, we visited some of the projects It is amazing how quickly fear spreads and perhaps especially so in a country like Rwanda where so much trauma is hidden under but close to the surface. Several medical centres reported that a substantial proportion of patients were physically uninjured, but suffering from various kinds of hysteria.
By the afternoon, things had settled down considerably and as we visited and spoke to people on the phone a clearer picture started to emerge. The death toll was lower than first feared. Helicopters from Kigali were at the airport, taking some injured to Kigali. A couple of government ministers had arrived. The government was advising that people slept outside. As dark approached, we put up the tent which was fortunately in the storeroom of our house and had dinner with a doctor friend who was going to spend the night with us.
Evening : sleeping in a tent in an earthquake zone, being woken by occasional aftershocks, is an experience in vulnerability and a very small insight into the life of the poor. It is also a bonding experience when no-one around is sleeping indoors. Fortunately the night was dry and even for those not fortunate to have cover it passed uneventfully.