KAMPALA, Feb 19 (Reuters) - An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.7 struck the Lake Albert region of western Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday, officials said, but there was no immediate word of casualties or damage.

"An earthquake passed here but it did not hurt anyone or destroy any property," Andrew Diboi, police chief for western Uganda, told Reuters by telephone.

Earthquakes are common in the western Great Rift Valley -- a seismically active fault line straddling western Uganda, eastern DRC and neighbouring Tanzania.

In 1994, a magnitude 6 tremor in the foothills of western Uganda's Rwenzori mountains killed at least six people. In 1966, a magnitude 7 earthquake killed 157 people and injured more than 1,300 in the Semliki Valley, also in western Uganda.

AlertNet news is provided by