Earthquakes near Musanze through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded one earthquake of magnitude 6 or more within 100 km of Musanze, or 200 km for magnitude 7 and above. 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 Musanze 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. NOAA’s list of significant earthquakes has 3 here, back to 1912. NOAA records deaths in 6 of the events here, 1,156 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 4.7 on May 25, 2021 (19 km WSW of Musanze, Rwanda). NOAA’s record here begins on December 3, 1912 with an eruption (Nyamulagira). NOAA lists one tsunami that began within 100 km of Musanze. NOAA lists 6 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes within 100 km of Musanze. The largest was Nyamulagira on December 3, 1912, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. It killed 20 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- May 25, 2021Earthquake · M 4.719 km WSW of Musanze, Rwanda · 32 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- 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
- December 3, 1912Eruption · VEI 3Nyamulagira · 20 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
Good to know
- An event counts for Musanze 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