Lake Victoria Earthquake Sends Shockwaves to Nairobi, Kigali, and Kampala

A magnitude 5.6 earthquake in the Lake Victoria region near Ushirombo, Tanzania, sent tremors across Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, and Uganda on Thursday afternoon.

The tremor was recorded at around 12:27 pm East African Time in several parts of Kenya, including Nairobi, Murang’a, Kiambu, and Kajiado.

Data from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) located the epicentre 17 kilometres east of Ushirombo, approximately 986 kilometres from Nairobi. The earthquake occurred in Tanzania at about 12:22 pm. EMSC later revised the preliminary figures to a magnitude 5.2 quake at a depth 14 kilometres east of Ushirombo.

The reach of the seismic activity extended far beyond the epicentre, with residents in distant capital cities such as Kigali, Bujumbura, and Kampala reporting light to weak shaking.

In Kenya, members of the public took to social media to share their experiences. Residents in areas including Tassia, Pipeline in Embakasi, Kitengela, Athi River, Westgate, and Kisii reported feeling the ground move, with several noting that they initially thought they were imagining the movement.

No injuries or structural damage were reported following the tremor. The event is part of a pattern of recent seismic activity in the region. A similar tremor was felt in Nairobi on May 7, 2025, when residents in Westlands, Parklands, Kangemi, and Mlolongo reported ground movement between 10:30 am and 10:40 am. That incident occurred less than two weeks after an earlier tremor along the Kenyan coast on April 28, 2025, which affected parts of Mombasa and Kilifi.