Residents of Maitama, Mpape, Katampe, and their surrounding areas in Abuja have expressed concerns over cases of earth tremors that have persisted since last weekend.
Earth tremors, a brief movement of the Earth’s surface triggered by the same forces responsible for earthquakes, had been previously reported in the capital in September 2018, which was said to occur at magnitude 3.2 around Mpape.
Chronicle NG reporter confirmed the latest incident occurred on Monday and persisted to the early hours of Tuesday as residents experienced recurring vibrations.
The earth tremors, which have caused widespread concern, occurred intermittently during the day on Monday and Tuesday, with the strongest feeling occurring between 11:00 p.m. and 11:20 p.m.
Already, several residents have taken to social media to express their shock and seek answers from authorities over the earth tremor.
Shola Adesoye, one of the residents, observed the ongoing vibrations and questioned why the National Geological Survey or other relevant authorities had not yet issued an official statement.
“This is incredible. No news from our National Geological Survey Centre,” Adesoye said.
Tunde Dinero also echoed the sentiment, highlighting that there has been no word from the Federal Ministry of Environment, which oversees such natural occurrences.
According to Dinero, the situation has worsened at night, disrupting sleep in the affected areas.
A resident, Obinna Ngozi, said the buildings shake whenever the movement takes place, causing fear in the minds of the residents.
Ngozi said he noticed the movement about 10 times on Saturday alone, starting around 4 p.m., and that the situation got worse the following day, Sunday.
Another resident, Muhammad Ibrahim, said he earlier mistook the earth tremor as a bomb blast, as according to him, it sounded quite different from that of quarry mining, in which the area has made its name in the past.
A mining blaster, Nasiru Ahmad, who spent years in the profession within the Mpape community, noted that one can hardly be able to understand where the sound is originating from, unlike that of stone blasting, which is easy to identify.
He, however, described a similar incident that took place about three years ago in the area as a more devastating one, which according to him was felt in the far districts of Gishiri, Jahi, and Maitama, as well as AYA, in Asokoro District, in the FCT.
A chief in the Mpape community, Peter David, said the last incident had originated from the Arab Road area in the community about three years ago. “Following that incident, officials of the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) had sanctioned all mining activities in the community.
Following the 2018 incident, the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) and some experts ruled out the possibility of serious earthquakes, while the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) was said to have installed four Guralp 3ESPC seismographs purchased in December 2019 for real-time earthquake monitoring within the capital and nationwide.
As of this report, neither the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency nor the Federal Ministry of Environment have released an official statement addressing the earth tremors.
