Earthquake Imminent; Geological Survey Authority Warns

The Ghana Geological Survey Authority has warned that there could be an earthquake following last Sunday’s earth tremor in some parts of Accra.

Residents of Weija, Gbawe experience some slight earth tremor on Sunday, December 9, 2018, at about 7:50 AM.

It left many in fear and the Geological Survey Authority has warned that this could trigger an earthquake.

The Geological Survey Authority says signs picked up show that the fault lines are active which means that an earthquake can occur at any time. Senior seismologist Nicholas Opoku says there is cause to worry.

“We should be scared if where these events are occurring have human exposure, buildings and societal activities.

“We have been talking about earthquakes all these while. The fault systems that give rise to these earthquakes are active and they can give a big earthquake in future which can be disastrous.

The Geological Survey Authority has begun an assessment to determine the magnitude of this latest earth tremor.

Mr Opoku called for the evacuation of people living in earthquake-prone areas and turn those areas into recreational facilities.

“If we don’t build there at all we have low risks,” he stated.

His warning comes at a time when residents living along the Kasoa ridge in Accra have been asked to evacuate following potential threats of mudslide, and earthquakes.

Looming earthquake

Responding to whether the tremors signified a looming earthquake in the country, Mr Opoku said: “An earthquake has a return period, so once we have had a major earthquake like 6.5 on the Richter scale in Accra in 1862 and 1939, it can come and it can even be bigger than that.”

According to earthquaketrack.com, although Ghana’s severest earthquake yet was experienced 79 years ago on June 22, 1939, with a magnitude of 6.4 on the Richter scale, there had been a series of earthquakes (some refer to them as tremors) in more recent times.

The fast-sprawling town of Kasoa in the Central Region and Gbawe in the Greater Accra Region have shared the most spoils in occurrence.

The most recent, with a 5.9 magnitude and a 33-kilometre depth, occurred at 3 p.m. on September 26, 2007, 11 years ago, 385.2 kilometres from Takoradi, while 21 years ago at 3:16 p.m. on March 6, 1997, another one measuring 4.4 in magnitude and with a depth of 10 kilometres occurred 6.2 kilometres from Gbawe.

Gbawe was in the news again 28 years ago with two earthquake experiences. The first, measuring 3.1 in magnitude and 10 kilometres in depth, occurred at 11:43 a.m. on April 14, 1990. 4.2 kilometres from the town, while the second, which measured 2.7 in magnitude and 10 kilometres in depth, occurred at 1:34 a.m. on February 12, 1990, 1.2 kilometres from the community.

In the last 31 years, Kasoa has also had its fair share of earthquakes — there was one measuring 2.0 in magnitude on March 23, 1989; 3.4 in magnitude on February 27, 1988 and 3.1 in magnitude on December 3, 1987, all 10 kilometres in depth.