According to officials, at least 40 people were killed and other 350 people were injured when two earthquakes hit Rwanda and Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday.

The two quakes struck the Great Lakes region in Africa along the Great rift Valley fault and were hours apart.

The first one hit around 10:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. EST), and had its epicenter in Democratic Republic of Congo. It was of a 6.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale. The second hit around 1:56 p.m. (5:56 a.m. EST) in southern Rwanda with a magnitude of 5.0 Richter Scale.

Deputy Rwandan Police Chief Mary Gahonzire said: "The death toll has now increased to 25 from the earthquake. Two hundred have serious injuries. Rescue efforts are underway but the number of dead could rise, as so many people are trapped," Reuters reports.

People in the DR Congo town of Bukavu spent Sunday night sleeping outside in case there were any aftershocks.

Bukavu mayor Guillaume Bonga said that overnight several aftershocks occurred, but there weren’t any new victims.

Also the governor of Congo's South Kivu province, Bernard Watunakanza said that the aftershocks in Bukavu were occurring “every 20 or 30 minutes.”

He said: "Up to now there are five dead and 149 seriously injured. Many people are traumatized," Reuters reports.

At least 300 people were injured in these two strong earthquakes.

With a death toll of almost 40 and many people still trapped under rubble in Rwanda, authorities expects it to rise.

At least ten were killed in Rusizi district in Rwanda when a church fell to the ground.

The western Great Rift Valley where the earthquakes occurred is known to be a place where earthquakes happen frequently.

In 1994 six people were killed by a quake of 6.0 magnitude on the Richter Scale in the Rwenzori mountains, in Uganda.

Also another earthquake of a 7.0 magnitude, in 1966, killed 157 people and wounded 1,300 others in the Semliki Valley, in western Uganda.