At least five people dead due to unknown haemorrhagic fever outbreak in Burundi.

Five people, including a child, are known to have died and another 35 people are reported to be ill in an outbreak of an unknown haemorrhagic fever in the Mpanda Commune in Bubanza Province, Burundi, according to a press release issued by the World Health Organization's Africa Regional Office on 11 April 2026. The disease was first reported on 28 March 2026, with several members of a household in the village of Kibuye being the first affected. The disease subsequently spread to contacts of the original victims, with six households now affected. 

Patients have been admitted to the Mpanda General Hospital with a range of symptoms including fever, vomiting, diarrhoea, blood in urine, fatigue and abdominal pain, and in some cases jaundice and anaemia. Such symptoms are consistent with an haemorrhagic fever such as Ebola or Marburg Virus, however, tests for Ebola, Marburg, Rift Valley Fever, Yellow Fever, and Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever have all come back negative, raising the possibility that this represents a new, as yet unknown, disease. Samples have been sent to the National Institute of Biomedical Research in neighbouring Democratic Republic of the Congo for further analysis.

Mpanda General Hospital. Afrigift TV.

In the absence of a diagnosis, health authorities in Burundi has deployed joint team of experts from the country’s Public Health Emergency Operations Centre and the National Reference Laboratory to the region to strengthen disease surveillance, field investigation, clinical care, laboratory diagnosis and infection prevention and control, while also providing logistical support to sustain key operations. Local people are advised to maintain good hygiene standards, practice social distancing, and to seek immediate help should they develop any symptoms.

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Landslides kill at least thirty eight in Burundi.

Thirty eight people have now been confirmed dead in three landslides that hit Cibitoke Province in northwest Burundi on Wednesday 4 December 2019. The landslides hit the villages of Gikomero, where three people are known to have died, Rukombe, where thirteen people are known to have died, and Nyempundu, where at least twenty two people have died. All three events happened late at night when people were sleeping in their homes, making them more vulnerable to landslides hitting settlements, after several hours of severe rain in the area.  Landslides are a common problem after severe weather events, as excess pore water pressure can overcome cohesion in soil and sediments, allowing them to flow like liquids. Approximately 90% of all landslides are caused by heavy rainfall. Several more people are still missing in the area, with rescuers still searching the landslide sites for more bodies.

The location of Cibitoke Province. Google Maps.

The incident occurred after about a month of heavy rains, in one of the area's two annual rainy seasons. This two rainy seasons per year pattern is typical in equatorial countries, with rainy seasons around the equinoxes and dry seasons around the solstices. Upland areas of East Africa have always been prone to landslides, but the problem has become worse in recent years as a rising population has led to more agriculture on hill-slopes, in many areas replacing open woodland where tree roots served to stabilise slopes, and also to more people living in harms ways. This years rains have been exceptionally heavy, and fatalities due to similar events have also been reported in other parts of Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopian, South Sudan, Sudan, Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and the Central African Republic.

The rains this year are thought to have been made worse by the development of a meteorological phenomenon called a Negative Indian Ocean Dipole. Indian Ocean Dipole Phases are similar to the El Niño/La Niña climatic oscillation that affect the Pacific Ocean. Under normal circumstances equatorial waters off the east coast of Africa and west coast of Indonesia are roughly similar in temperature, however during a Negative Indian Ocean Dipole Phase the waters off the coast of Indonesia become significantly warmer. As the prevailing currents in the area flow west to east, this warm water is then pushed onto the shallower continental shelf of north Australia, where it warms the air over the sea more rapidly, leading to increased evaporation (which fuels rain) and a drop in air pressure over the east Indian Ocean and west Pacific. This in turn drives air currents over the Indian Ocean to flow more strongly west to east, leading to higher rates of  cooling off the coast of Africa (where more water is drawn up from the cool sea depths) and more warming off the coast of Indonesia, fuelling a feedback cycle that tends to remain through the winter season in any year when it forms. This leads to a particularly wet winter across much of Australia, as well as a potentially damaging heatwave in the north, while much of East Africa is at risk of drought (during a Positive Indian Ocean Dipole Phase the reverse happens, with drought in Australia and flooding in East Africa).

Areas of warming and cooling and air flow during a Negative Indian Ocean Dipole Phase. Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

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Burundi Earthquake causes at least two fatalities.

The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 4.8 Earthquake at a depth of 10 km, in the northwest of Cibitoke Province of northwestern Burundi, close to the border with Rwanda, slightly before 6.10 pm local time (slightly before 4.10 pm GMT) on Friday 23  September 2016. There have been at least two fatalities following this event, and at least five injuries, as well as a large number of building collapses; the damage has been more severe than would be expected for an event of this size, largely because it occurred in an area where Earthquakes this large are rare and few if any buildings are Earthquake proofed. People have reported feeling the event across the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, as well as most of Rwanda and Burundi, though the fatalities and injuries have all been reported in the Congo.

Damage following the 23 September 2016 Cibitoke Province Earthquake. BBC/Earthquake Report.

Burundi lies within the the of the Great Rift Valley, which is slowly splitting the African Plate in two along a line from the Red Sea through Ethiopia, and which includes the great lakes and volcanoes of east-central Africa. This has the potential to open into a new ocean over the next few tens of millions of years, splitting Africa into two new, smaller, continents; Nubia to the west and Somalia to the east.

  Movement on the African Rift Valley, with associated volcanoes. Rob Gamesby/Cool Geography.

Witness accounts of Earthquakes can help geologists to understand these events, and the structures that cause them. The international non-profit organisation Earthquake Report is interested in hearing from people who may have felt this event; if you felt this quake then you can report it to Earthquake Report here.

 The approximate location of the 23 September 2016 Cibitoke Earthquake. Google.

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Fourteen dead after Earthquake in northwest Tanzania.                                                      The United States Geological Survey recorded a Magnitude 5.9 Earthquake at a depth of 40 km, roughly 22 km to the northeast of Nsunga in the Kagera...

Eruptions from new vent on Mount Nyiragongo, Democratic Republic of Congo. The Observatoire Volcanologique de Goma has raised concerns about the possibility of a major eruptive episode on Mount Nyiragongo in the Virungu Mountiains of the North Kivu Province in eastern...

Magnitude 5.5 Earthquake on the western shore of Lake Kivu.                             The United States Geological Survey Recorded a Magnitude 5.5. Earthquake at a depth of 10 km beneath the western shore of Lake Kivu, which... 

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