Wednesday, September 18, 2024 -The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, has asked residents of the Federal Capital Territory not to panic over the earth tremors currently being experienced.
In a statement released, the
Director-General of the agency, Professor Olusegun Ige, disclosed that NGSA
monitored the tremors and found them to be low and did not pose any threat to
the environment.
The statement reads
“ The Monitoring Station (NGSA-5) at
Katampe has been capturing several significant ground motions with high moment
magnitudes (Mw) in the past five days, beginning from September 13, 2024, till
date. Only one mild event was recorded on September 13th. Six of these events
were captured on the 14th of September, while over 21 events were captured on
the 15th with higher intensities. More than twenty events were recorded on the
16th of September. The intensity and frequency of the tremor appear to increase
from the 13th to the 16th of September. There are a few weak events recorded
today, 17th September.
Preliminary
analysis of the waveforms showed that the sources of the ground motions are
less than 5 km away from the monitoring station.”
The NGSA said its team also visited
the affected areas for on-the-spot assessments of the events. From the accounts
of the residents of the affected areas, the observations by the NGSA team, and
findings from earlier interpretations of the airborne geophysical data over the
area and adjoining areas, it said the following conclusions were made:
* The tremors are a result of
accumulated stress along the identified faults and released seismic energy,
which may have travelled through associated fractures to areas where the
tremors were felt around the FCT.
* There are multiple epicentres associated
with the recent tremor. Most of the epicentres are located northeast of the
NGSA-5 Seismic Station around the Mpape axis, while a few are located southwest
of the Station around the Katampe axis.
* The intensities of the tremors are weak to
light, ranging from III-IV on the Modified Mercalli Scale, and pose a very
low-level threat, and
* The residents of Mpape, Katampe, Maitama, and other areas where the tremors
were felt are advised not to panic as the tremors can be generally described as
low. The Agency is keeping a close monitoring of the situation and will provide
updates as may become necessary.
The agency advised the public to also
be aware that the NGSA Seismic Stations are being monitored in real-time to
ensure prompt alerts on any major event.
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