Tremors in Abuja: Don’t panic – Agency allays fears

The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, NGSA, has allayed fears over earth tremors experienced in the Federal Capital Territory urging residents not to panic.

A statement by 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, reports Channels TV.

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 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 Mpape axis, while a few are located southwest of the Station around 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.

It 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.