Binga hit by 3 earth tremors inside 48hrs

BINGA district experienced three earth tremors in less than 48 hours which began on Monday and ended on Tuesday.

Senior weather forecaster at the Meteorological Services Department, James Ngoma described the tremors as the largest so far, with a magnitude of 4,5 on the Ritcher scale.

Ngoma yesterday told Southern Eye that the first earthquake occurred at 3:40hrs on Monday, followed by another one at 13:16hrs on the same day and the third on Tuesday at 11:49hrs.

He said the department had not received any reports of damage to property caused by the earthquakes.

"The epicentre of the largest tremor was about 15km from Lake Kariba, a known seismic region due to the large water body. Earthquakes of this magnitude are often felt, but they only cause minor damages," Ngoma said.

He said the last earthquake was felt north-west of Binga in June this year and had a magnitude of 3,8 on the Ritcher scale.

On April 1 and 2 last year, two tremors with a magnitude of 4,0 on the Ritcher scale were recorded around Kariba Dam.

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 about 65km east of the Kariba Dam wall.