4.2 magnitude earthquake hits Binga

A 4,2 MAGNITUDE earthquake hit Binga yesterday morning.

Meteriological Services Department (MSD) head meteorologist James Ngoma confirmed the tremor yesterday telling NewsDay that the epicentre of the earthquake was Binga.

"An earthquake of a 4,2 magnitude was felt in Binga around 5:15am. There were no reports of damages to property, deaths or injuries," Ngoma said.

"However, more enquires are being made to determine its intensity."

The last earthquake to be felt in Binga was in 2021 and it had a magnitude of 4,5 with its epicentre about 15km from Lake Kariba.

Ngoma said many such tremors occur around Lake Kariba each year, adding that some of them were not reported because their intensity would be insignificant.

Only those whose magnitude is above 4,5 are made public to alert the population.

"The earthquakes are referred to as load-induced tremors or reservoir-induced tremors in the case of Lake Kariba and are a result of the earth crust's response to water load or weight given the size of the dam," he said.

The reservoir-induced tremors have been occurring since 1963 when Lake Kariba started filling up.