The epicentre was 20 kilometres (12 mi) north of Bukavu at Lake Kivu in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The East African rift system is a diffuse, approximately 3000-km-long, zone of crustal extension that passes through eastern Africa from Djibouti and Eritrea on the north to Malawi on the south and that constitutes the boundary between the Africa plate on the west and the Somalia plate on the east.

At the earthquake's latitude, the Africa and Somalia plates are spreading apart at a rate of about four millimeters per year.

The largest earthquake to have occurred in the rift system since 1900 had a magnitude of about 7.6.

Earthquakes within the East African rift system occur as the result of both normal faulting and strike-slip faulting.At least 25 people were confirmed dead in Rwanda, with a further 200 seriously injured.