The Recent Earthquake in Myanmar has Drawn Fresh Attention to Global Preparedness for Natural Disasters, Including on the African Continent.
African Experts Are Concerened About Seismic Threats and Limited Local Capacity to Respond. For Gladys Karegi Kianji, a Seismologist at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, Who has studied African Earthquakes for 15 years, this is Far from a new work.
I don’t hire an appartment in a tall building beyond the first Floor in Nairobi, “Kianji Said.
Is Africa At Risk of Earthquakes?
Earthquakes Have Struck the Continent Before. Thousands Were Killed in Morocco’s 2023 Disaster, While Ethiopia’s 2005 Quick Resulted in the Displayment of About 6,500 People.
Folarin Kolawole, A Structure Geology at Columbia University, USS Assessing A Region’s Earthquake Risk Involution Looking at Historic Earthquakes in the Region and Identying FAULT LINES, Whiche Are Fractures Between Rocks.
Africa, He Says, Lies on a Complex Geological Structure that makes it vulnerable to Seismic activity.
At the Core of this RISK is the East African Rift System, where the African Plate is Sloly Splitting into the Nubian and Somali Plates. Ases Plates Drift Apart More, Kolawole Says It Leads to Earthquakes in Countries Like Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Mozambique.
Where are Africa’s Earthquake Zones?
Africa Has Several Active Seismic Zones.
In 2016, a group of gelogists created the secemotectonic map of Africa, highlighting regions Based on Historical Quicks and Geology Activity.
Kolawole Identifies The East African Rift Covering Malawi, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Madagascar as the Most Earthquake Prone Part of Africa.
These countries lie along a 3000-kilometry (1,864-mile) fault stretching from ethiopia to mozambique and freutently expervation tremors, some causing signical damage.
And who West Africa is often Seen As Tectivelly Stable, He Points to Ghana’s Past Earthquakes and Recent Tremors in Nigeria As Signs of Potential for a Large Magnithdede Earthquake to occur.
Lake KIVU: A Volatile Mix of Geology and GAS
Lake Kivu, Between Rwanda and The Democratic Republic of Conoco, Is One of Africa’s Deepest Lakes.
What makes it dangerous, kolawole explained, is the Large Amount of Dissolied Carbon Dioxide and Methane, The Latter Being Highly Flammable.
In the Event of a Strong Earthquake, these Gases Courage Be RELISED in a Rare “Limnic Eruction”, Potentially Suffocating Thousands.
In 1986, a Similar Event at Lake Nyos in Cameron Killed Over 1,700 People when a Gas Cloud Silently Swept Across Nearby Villages.
To Mitigate This RISK, The Rwandan Goovernment Launched the Kivuwatt Gas Methane Power Plant in 2016 to Extract Methane from the Lake for Electricity Production.
Despite Active Fault Lines, RISing Seismic Actity, Initiatives Like this Methane Extraction Facility, Africa Remains Overall Ill-Prepned.
“[Governments] Don’t receive the Importance of Putting A Network that is Going to Feed them with the information to actually do the Seismic Hazard Warning. Definitely Nothing Like that Exisms, ”said kianji.
She added that governments are offen reactive rackar few prockive in disaster RISK REDUCTION.
What’s Needed, She Said, is Greater Awardness, Seismic Monitoring Systems, Better Policies and Urban Planning, and Economic Investment.
Kolawole Added that “Conflict and Unrest in Some of the African Countries Su Kong” Hinders Preparedness Efforts.
“We Cannot Stop Earthquakes from Happing,” Kolawole SAID. “The Best We Can Do is to Prepare for It and Monitor.”
Feweer Than A Third of African Countries Have Implemented Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems.
Africa Can Learn from Global Examples Including Myanmar’s Recent Quick.
That includes best Building Standards and Investment in Undersanding the Geology Activity in the Region.
“I think there was a lapse in the administration in terms of the Building and Construction,” Said Kianji of the Myanmar Quicks.
“If a Lot of [scientific] Research was pubh in, some of it very active zones they may been Able to Warn People to Be Able to Evacuate. ”
Edited by: Matthew Ward Agius
