Kigali — A year after an earthquake hit Rwanda's Western Province, destroying infrastructure and claiming dozens of lives, a reconstruction drive is due to start this month, a government official said.

"We want to reconstruct the schools, health centres, roads as well as other public buildings destroyed last year," Celestin Kabahizi, governor of the province, said. The initiative, sponsored by donors and the Rwandan government, aims to restore most of the damaged infrastructure.

A series of earthquakes in February 2008 damaged up to 45 schools and health centres, putting 27,000 children out of school. Up to 37 people were killed; 646 were injured.

Gashumba Francis, a resident of Risizi District, one of the most devastated, said life had been hard for them since the earthquake. For example, his children had to walk 5km to school because the nearest one was destroyed.

After the earthquakes stuck, a number of corporations, together with the Rwandan government, raised funds to help reconstruct 300 classrooms and 2,000 houses. Local authorities, however, said only 60 classrooms and 25 houses had been reconstructed by the end of 2008.

Last week, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Japanese government signed an agreement for a US$7.5 million grant to rebuild the province.

The grant, UNICEF said, would be used to reconstruct 15 of the most badly damaged schools and three health centres in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts.

According to Rwanda's ministry of lands and environment, earthquakes are common in the western Great Rift Valley due to the presence of a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania.

Rwanda's Western Province is also prone to natural calamities. In October, torrential rains caused extensive flooding, submerging more than 500 homes and destroying about 2,000 hectares of crops.

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations ]