FG allays fears over Abuja tremors, says no threat to environment
The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) has moved to calm the nerves of Abuja residents following the recent earth tremors in Mpape, a suburb of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
According to Prof. Olusegun Ige, the Director-General of NGSA, the agency has been monitoring the tremors and found them to be low with no threat to the environment.
He added, in a statement, that the NGSA has established four seismic stations to keep a close eye on the situation, ensuring prompt alerts in case of any major event.
The agency’s monitoring station in Katampe has captured several significant ground motions since September 13, with varying intensities.
Prof. Ige reassured residents that the tremors are a result of accumulated stress along identified faults, releasing seismic energy that travelled through fractures to areas where the tremors were felt.
The statement read, “The intensity and frequency of the tremor appear to increase from the 13th to 16th 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 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, 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.”
