People affected by the earthquake which hit the Kagera region, in northwestern Tanzania, in September last year will get some relief from a humanitarian emergency grant approved by the African Development Bank Group's Board last week.

The assistance will help to meet urgent needs of primary and secondary schools in the earthquake affected areas, and restore learning activities.

Kagera region in northwestern Tanzania was hit by a 5.9-magnitude earthquake on Saturday, September 10, 2016, resulting in 17 deaths and 440 injured people.

Over 2,500 houses were completely destroyed, 14,500 others including 1,700 government buildings were partially destroyed. Nearly 118,000 people lost their homes to the earthquake, making the provision of temporary shelter a priority for the affected households.

The Bank's emergency assistance will focus on the rehabilitation of classrooms, offices, teachers' houses and latrines damaged by the quake. The Bank support will complement ongoing efforts by the Government, UN agencies and NGOs to restore the education infrastructure, and minimize disruptions in the school calendar.

The Government said it has received about US $7 million (in cash, pledges and materials) to respond to the needs of the earthquake victims. However, preliminary estimates suggest that about US $20 million is needed for emergency shelter assistance, while the education sector alone will need about US $30 million to restore the damaged school infrastructure.

Although earthquakes rarely occur in Tanzania, geological activities are common along the great East African Rift Valley corridor, which traverses the country, constituting the eastern and western branches of the Rift Valley.