KIGALI (AFP) — 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, authorities said, while more than 450 were hurt.
Rwandan police spokesman Willy Marcel Higiro said latest reports gave 30 dead and 112 hospitalised in Rusizi district and eight killed and 180 in hospital in Nyamasheke.
"Many have been left homeless," he said. "We are still counting them."
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.
Ten people were killed in this way in Rusizi district, where the majority of people are Roman Catholics.
"We felt heavy shaking. Part of the roof timbers fell on the women's side, and I was hit on the chest and head," survivor Dative Mukanyhita, aged 20, told AFP from Gihundwe hospital.
The 10-year-old son of Salima Mukamugwere, a Muslim, was trampled underfoot as he fled the Koranic school at Kamende.
"I took him home but he had difficulty breathing. I called the Red Cross who came to fetch him," his mother said.
Many of the injured have fractured skulls and other broken limbs suffered as walls fell in or people rushed to get out of stricken buildings.
The Rwandan government sent extra medical teams to Rusizi, national radio reported, while in the neighbouring DR Congo the government said its priority was to help the homeless. Humanitarian groups said thousands had lost their homes.
"There were some small aftershocks during the night. But fortunately most people followed appeals to sleep outdoors and there were no new victims," Bukavu mayor Guillaume Bonga told AFP.
"Our priority now is to evaluate the needs of the victims. There are hundreds of homeless," he added, appealing for plastic covers, tents and medicines.
The World Health Organisation said it had delivered 2.5 tonnes of initial emergency medical aid to the DR Congo authorities.
The epicentre for the biggest quake was about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of Bukavu, the capital of Sud Kivu province. There are about 300,000 people in the city and the mayor said nearly every house had suffered some kind of damage.
The UN peacekeeping mission in DR Congo has joined the relief effort after the quakes.
Extra police and military patrols have been ordered in Bukavu to deter looting, officials said.
A powerful 6.8 magnitude quake rocked the region in December 2005 but, while it is prone to seismic activity, it has mostly escaped major quake damage in recent years.
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