Tremor: No cause for alarm, NGSA reassures Abuja residents

The Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) has announced that the earth tremors experienced in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) are not a cause for alarm.

NGSA’s Director-General, Olusegun Ige, disclosed in a statement that it has monitored the tremors and found them to be low and not a threat to the environment.

NGSA’s statement comes after reports of earth tremors in Abuja, which had caused concern among residents of Maitama, Katampe, Mpape, and surrounding areas.

Earth tremors, a minor or 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, said to have occurred at magnitude 3.2 around Mpape.

But NGSA said it has monitored the tremors and found them to be low and not a threat to the environment, adding that its team visited the affected areas for on-the-spot assessments.

NGSA reported that the tremors were a result of accumulated stress along identified faults and released seismic energy.

“The Monitoring Station (NGSA-5) at Katampe has been capturing several significant ground motions with high moment magnitudes (Mw) over the past five days, beginning September 13, 2024, and continuing to date,” NGSA said.

“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 tremors appear to have increased from the 13th to the 16th of September. There are a few weak events recorded today, the 17th of September.

“Preliminary analysis of the waveforms showed that the sources of the ground motions are less than 5 km away from the monitoring station.”

According to the accounts of residents of the affected areas, observations by the NGSA team, and findings from previous interpretations of airborne geophysical data over the area and adjoining areas, the following conclusions were reached:

“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.

“ 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 closely monitoring the situation and will provide updates as may become necessary.”