Earthquakes near Gisenyi, 1927–2026
From 1927 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Gisenyi, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.2 on October 24, 2002 (34 km SW of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more within 100 km of Gisenyi in the last 30 days.
What the record holds
The deadliest was not the strongest: a magnitude 4.7 on January 17, 2002 (Gisenyi), for which NOAA records 1,001 deaths. 6 earthquakes here in these years are on NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes. NOAA records deaths in 8 of the events here, 1,187 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.7 on May 25, 2021 (19 km WSW of Musanze, Rwanda). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Gisenyi. NOAA lists 5 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes within 100 km of Gisenyi. The largest was Nyiragongo on May 22, 2021, at 2 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 32 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- May 25, 2021Earthquake · M 4.719 km WSW of Musanze, Rwanda · 32 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- May 22, 2021Eruption · VEI 2Nyiragongo · 32 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- February 3, 2008Earthquake · M 5.9Bukavu · 47 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- October 24, 2002Earthquake · M 6.234 km SW of Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- January 17, 2002Earthquake · M 4.7Gisenyi · 1,001 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- January 28, 1938TsunamiNyamuragiraNOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Gisenyi when it began within 100 km of its centre, or 200 km for an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more. Damage can reach further.
- USGS counts here start at magnitude 6: the catalogue’s smaller quakes thin out going back, where few instruments listened.
- NOAA lists significant events only: earthquakes that killed, did about $1 million of damage, reached magnitude 7.5 or intensity X, or raised a tsunami, and eruptions and tsunamis by like measures. Magnitudes before 1900 are its estimates from written accounts.
- Deaths are NOAA’s total for each event, wherever people died, its tsunami and fires included. A tsunami counts the dead its runup records give for this place: NOAA’s total for a tsunami includes its source quake’s.
- A tsunami from elsewhere counts where one of its runups killed or rose a metre or more.
- Counted to October 19, 2026, as is the map. The last 30 days ask USGS again.
How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Earthquakes, live, The world through history