John Paul – Abuja
A fresh round of tremor measuring 3.0 Mercalli Intensity Scale, MIS, hit Maitama District in Abuja on Thursday, Nigerian Geological Survey Agency, (NGSA), has disclosed after receiving distress calls from residents in the area.
Already, Federal Government has dispatched rescue and technical teams to the area to ascertain the level of impact. Shi’ites
According to the Technical Head of NGSA, Dr. Abdulrazaq Garbaan, internal response protocol, was immediately activated and other relevant government agencies and stakeholders were informed about the incidence.
Garbaan said: “NGSA received a call at about 12.45p.m. today (yesterday) on a reported earth tremor from a location in Maitama District.
A technical team was immediately dispatched to the location for an on-the-spot assessment. “An internal response protocol was immediately activated and relevant government agencies and stakeholders were informed. These include National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, and the FCT.
These agencies responded promptly and arrived at the scene. “Our preliminary findings indicated that the tremor occurred around 12.26p.m. around the vicinity of Panama Street, Maitama District. After field evaluations, NGSA determined that the intensity was about 3.0 on the Mercalli Intensity Scale, which means it was felt indoors and lasted less than one minute,” adding that there were no structural damages.
NGSA advises residents
Garbaan asked residents not to panic as investigations were still ongoing and that there is no cause for panic. Tremor had earlier occurred on September 5 in Mpape, Maitama, and other parts of Abuja, throwing residents in the area into panic.
However, NGSA advised residents to move out of their houses if vibrations continued, assuring that Abuja was not prone to earthquake.
The agency added that government had purchased six earthquake monitoring seismograms to monitor of all ground disturbances, and that installation has began in the six geopolitical zones.
