News / National
Earthquake hits north-west Binga
30 Jun 2021 at 17:20hrs | Views
NORTH-WEST Binga and parts of the Zambezi Catchment area on Monday experienced an earthquake, but no damage was reported.
The tremor hit the area around 12:32pm.
Meteorological Services Department senior weather forecaster James Ngoma confirmed the tremor yesterday.
"There was a 3.6 magnitude earthquake in Zambia, 70km north-west of Binga. No damages were reported. Most of these earthquakes with a magnitude below 5.5 do not cause any significant damage," Ngoma said.
Two earthquakes or tremors with a magnitude of 4.0 were recorded in the Zambezi Valley around Kariba Dam on April 1 and April 2 in 2020 at 19:29 hours and 17:31 hours, respectively.
The epicentre of the April 1 earthquake was said to have been approximately 3km south-west of the Spurwing Island Lodge, or 27km South of the Kariba Dam, while the epicentre of the April 2 earthquake was approximately 65km east of the Kariba Dam wall.
Ngoma said these tremors were a common occurrence around the Kariba Dam.
"The tremors are referred to as load-induced tremors or specifically reservoir-induced tremors. In the case of the Kariba Dam, they are a result of the earth crust's response to the water load or weight of water given the size of the dam."
He said these reservoir-induced tremors had been occurring since 1963 when the Kariba Dam started filling up.
"Over 1 000 tremors of magnitude 4.0 as the most recent tremors occurred since filling of the dam in 1963. The tremors of this magnitude do not affect the structural integrity of the dam," Ngoma said.
"However, as a precaution, the Kariba Dam is inspected after each event and the instruments records analysed for any anomalous behaviour irrespective of the magnitude."
The tremor hit the area around 12:32pm.
Meteorological Services Department senior weather forecaster James Ngoma confirmed the tremor yesterday.
"There was a 3.6 magnitude earthquake in Zambia, 70km north-west of Binga. No damages were reported. Most of these earthquakes with a magnitude below 5.5 do not cause any significant damage," Ngoma said.
Two earthquakes or tremors with a magnitude of 4.0 were recorded in the Zambezi Valley around Kariba Dam on April 1 and April 2 in 2020 at 19:29 hours and 17:31 hours, respectively.
Ngoma said these tremors were a common occurrence around the Kariba Dam.
"The tremors are referred to as load-induced tremors or specifically reservoir-induced tremors. In the case of the Kariba Dam, they are a result of the earth crust's response to the water load or weight of water given the size of the dam."
He said these reservoir-induced tremors had been occurring since 1963 when the Kariba Dam started filling up.
"Over 1 000 tremors of magnitude 4.0 as the most recent tremors occurred since filling of the dam in 1963. The tremors of this magnitude do not affect the structural integrity of the dam," Ngoma said.
"However, as a precaution, the Kariba Dam is inspected after each event and the instruments records analysed for any anomalous behaviour irrespective of the magnitude."
Source - newsday
