Earthquakes in Congo - Kinshasa through history
From 1900 to October 19, 2026, USGS recorded 7 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or more in Congo - Kinshasa. None reached magnitude 7: the strongest was a magnitude 6.9 on December 13, 1910 (39 km WSW of Karema, Tanzania).
The last 30 days · as of
USGS recorded no earthquake of magnitude 4.5 or more in the area the map frames 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 8 here, back to 1910. NOAA records deaths in 12 of the events here, 1,397 in all. The latest on NOAA’s list is a magnitude 5 on June 10, 2021 (88 km SW of Kabare, Democratic Republic of the Congo). NOAA’s record here begins on December 13, 1910 with an earthquake (39 km WSW of Karema, Tanzania). NOAA lists one tsunami that began in Congo - Kinshasa. NOAA lists 6 significant eruptions of 2 volcanoes in Congo - Kinshasa. The largest was Nyamulagira on December 3, 1912, at 3 on the volcanic explosivity index. The deadliest was Nyiragongo on January 17, 2002, which killed 100 people by NOAA’s count.
The events
- June 10, 2021Earthquake · M 5.088 km SW of Kabare, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 2 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- January 17, 2002Earthquake · M 4.7Gisenyi · 1,001 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI
- January 17, 2002Eruption · VEI 1Nyiragongo · 100 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- March 20, 1966Earthquake · M 6.622 km N of Margherita, Uganda · 157 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- September 22, 1960Earthquake · M 6.519 km SW of Uvira, Democratic Republic of the Congo · 24 deaths (NOAA)USGS · NOAA NCEI
- September 22, 1960Earthquake · M 6.416 km N of Uvira, Democratic Republic of the CongoUSGS
- January 28, 1938TsunamiNyamuragiraNOAA NCEI
- April 16, 1922Earthquake · M 6.5149 km W of Kigoma, TanzaniaUSGS
- December 3, 1912Eruption · VEI 3Nyamulagira · 20 deaths (NOAA)NOAA NCEI · Wikipedia
- December 13, 1910Earthquake · M 6.939 km WSW of Karema, TanzaniaUSGS · NOAA NCEI
Good to know
- An event counts for Congo - Kinshasa when it began inside its borders. Damage can reach across them.
- 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.
- The map frames the box around Congo - Kinshasa, its neighbours’ quakes included, so its count runs higher than this page’s.
- 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