Cablegate: Earthquake Tremors Generate Fear but Little Else

VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHNR #5018 3391321
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 051321Z DEC 05
FM AMEMBASSY NAIROBI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8254
INFO RUEHXR/RWANDA COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHDR/AMEMBASSY DAR ES SALAAM 4313
RUEHKI/AMEMBASSY KINSHASA 1641
RUEHJB/AMEMBASSY BUJUMBURA 6685
RUEHKM/AMEMBASSY KAMPALA 0978

UNCLAS NAIROBI 005018

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR OPS CENTER AND AF/E

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ASEC AMGT AEMR CASC KSAF KE
SUBJECT: EARTHQUAKE TREMORS GENERATE FEAR BUT LITTLE ELSE
IN KENYA

1. (SBU) Late in the day on December 5, Reuters and other
media sources reported a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that
struck in the Democratic Republic of Congo at 3:19 pm local
time at a point 975 kilometers from the Kenyan capital,
Nairobi. Few felt the tremors at the Embassy compound in
the northwest of the city, but press reports indicate that
the tremors produced minor panic in downtown office
buildings, causing "hundreds of people" to evacuate.

2. The Senior Deputy Commissioner of Police confirmed to
RSO that the tremors produced some panic in Nairobi, but
that there have been thus far no reports of injuries or
damage to property in the capital. Similarly, the Chief of
the National Disaster Operations Center told Embassy KUSLO
Chief that there have thus been no reports of injuries or
damage in Kenya as a result of the quake.

3. Post has consulted with a few AmCit wardens, to include
four hotels in Nairobi, and officials at CDC in Kisumu,
Kenya but none are aware of any damage that may have been
caused by the earthquake.

4. It is conceivable that reports of injuries or damage
will trickle in to Nairobi later in the evening or
tomorrow. Post will report septel if quake damage in Kenya
is significant. At this point, all indications are that it
caused little more than minor panic in some localities.
BELLAMY

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