Tag: earth tremor

Saki community in Oke-Ogun area of Oyo State in the recent time has been faced with earth tremor, SINA FADARE, who visited the scene reports.

RESIDENTS of Saki community around February this year were woken up by a loud strange voice that many confessed they had never experienced in their lives. The whole community where the incident happened simultaneously rushed out to see what could have produced such a loud noise and vibration. But they saw nothing and had no clue.

Like sands on the roofs

Few hours again, the incident occurred three times, there was palpable fear and anxiety; they could not fathom what could have happened in the rustic community. Ever since the incident which later repeatedly occurred for about three months, the people of the town could no longer sleep with their eyes closed. Anxiety, fear of the unknown became their companion and their quiet environment has never remained the same again.

The incident occurred in some of the communities SUCH AS Abimbola Lay-out, Salam Salam, Medinat and Veterinary area of the town. To a visitor, visiting the ancient town for the first time the topic on the lips of all and sundry was the recent earth tremor in the vicinity.

Sharing his experience with this reporter, Mr. Peter Adeniyi who has been living in Medinat area in the last ten years said that he had never experienced such vibration in his entire life

“I was in the house that day preparing to go to the shop when the incident occurred. I suddenly heard a loud and strange ‘voice’ that shook the entire building as if some small stones were poured on the roof of the house almost everywhere. I rushed out to see what happened; it was outside that l saw plenty people on the street asking the same question, ‘what happened’?”

Adetunji who is a telephone accessories dealer noted that the second day incident was similar to the first one, “Similarly, I rushed out to my wife’s shop nearby to see if she was okay and the children, I saw a lot of people on the road with fear written over their faces. Some are calling their relatives somewhere in the town to ask if they also felt the same vibration.”

Recounting his own similar experience, Mr. Taofik Adesina who is also living in Medinat area said he had never experienced such vibration since he had been living in the area in the last twelve years. “The one that I can remember vividly was the first one that happened around February. It was as if sands were being poured on the roof of the house. We all rushed out of the house and saw people outside who had just felt same vibration.”

According to him, the incident had thrown the community into   confusion because nobody is sure what could happen next.” Some residents are packing out of the area in droves, but the question is ‘where will the landlord and others who have no other place to go run to’?

The Nation gathered that when the incident became frequent, the community sent some people to the nearby Army barrack to inquire whether they were the ones denoting bombs that were creating vibrations in their community. The response was negative. They also went to the local government secretariat to intimate the council chairman what was happening in their vicinity. The council quickly informed the relevant government agency, the ministry of Land and Environment at Ibadan what the community had been passing through.

Their efforts yielded result as State Government delegation led by the Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Chief Teju Ishola visited the scene, appealed to the residents to remain calm; adding that governments both at the state and federal levels would proffer solution to the problem.

In his own lamentation, a resident at Abimbola layout, Prince Layi Adebowale who conducted this reporter round all the affected areas said the incident still remains a dream to him.

Adebowale who moved into the area about five years ago said the earth tremor that occurred in the vicinity has generated a lot of panic and uncertainty as some tenants had to pack out due to fear that the issue might aggravate into a calamity.

“When l heard the vibration, I thought that maybe the sound came from a quarry nearby, but when it was  more frequent,  we were confronted with the dawn of reality that it was an earth tremor. The people of this area are now living in fear and trepidation,” he said

Expressing similar fear, Mr. Asamu Mayowa Hadi who has been living in the area in the last 15 years said the experience he passed through will remained with him for life, “I was sleeping when the incident occurred three times that particular day, the whole building shook as if it will fall, but when I went out to see what happened people in the community trooped out and were relating their different experiences.”

Living in fear

To Mrs. Fola Adebowale, who resides in Abimbola layout, the experience was like a nightmare, she was in the kitchen when she heard a loud sound that shook everywhere. Narrating her experience she said, “The children that were in the bathroom ran out for fear that something was about to happen. Ever since then, the tremor had occurred severally, the people are packing away from this place,” she lamented.

The Nation gathered that when the incident occurred, the member of the community got in touch with Olajide Olatubosun who is representing Saki-West/ Saki East and Atisbo local government in the House of Representatives. The lawmaker raised the issue at the floor of the House under matter of urgency.

In a letter dated June 9, 2016, which was addressed to the Speaker, Yakubu Dogara and entitled: “Matter of urgent public importance (standing Order VIII rule 46) urgent call on the Federal Government to investigate the persistence earth tremor currently being experienced in Saki, the headquarters of Saki-West local government area of Oyo State,” called the attention of the House and Federal Government to the “persistent vibrations/tremor in Saki.”

According to him “anytime the earth vibration/tremor occurs, the building and other physical structures in the affected areas would shake violently and this, he said was responsible for a large army of internally displaced persons (IDP), as they had to vacate their homes, farmlands and their places of business.”

Against this background, the federal government deployed a team of experts made up of Geologists and Seismologists through the Centre for Geodesy and Geodynamics, (CGG), Toro, Bauchi State. The team was headed by Dr. Adepelumi Adekunle Abraham of the Dept. of Geology, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State.

The team pointed out that “Our findings showed that the earth tremor that was experienced in the Saki area is a series of fore-shock, main-shock and after-shock of a small scale earth-tremor with local magnitude 2.5 on the Richter scale that originated along the Ifewara, Romanche and Charcot fault system in the Atlantic Ocean that passed through Saki town. These mega structure are supposedly the longest linear feature within the Precambrian basement complex of Nigeria, and extends northwards from Ijebu-Ode area in southwestern Nigeria through Okemesi area to Zungeru and beyond to Kalangai in northwestern Nigeria (They are deep-seated mega-lineaments) that transcends the south-western part of the country.”

Though the team said that the earth tremor that occurred in the community was of a minimal magnitude, it however called for the installation of earthquake monitoring devices that will be able to monitor the affected areas.

At a meeting organised by the landlord Association in Abimbola Layout area of the community which the Nation attended, they charged the federal government as a matter of urgency to provide and install the needed scientific gadgets that will assist in solving the problem at hand.

Speaking on behalf of the Association, Sarafadeen Lateef said the community is aware that the riddle of the tremor that occurred in the area can only be solved by scientific approach adding that the people of the area are ready to co-operate with the expert in order to get a desirable result.

“The issue of earthquake cannot be handled with a kid’s glove, though we pray it does not happen. We are aware that it will take a lot of studies to detect what is going around on in this place. He insisted that the people of the area are not yet displaced, though the officials from National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) visited the community.”

Speaking on the visitation of NEMA and the earth tremor saga in the vicinity, the Bagii of Saki-land, High Chief Ghazali Olagoke Abdur- Rasheed said the NEMA visitation just coincided with the time that the earth tremor occurred, adding that there are some pockets of disaster that occurred in the area and destroyed a lot of houses and properties but nobody noticed because “we are far away in the hinterland.”

“There was a time that a lorry loaded with petrol ran into a compound and the properties and the buildings went up in flames and the affected people were displaced. We equally experienced flood and storm disaster which displaced some people. We complained to the government through our representative in the National Assembly and the NEMA people came to see the degree of damage. Incidentally, their visit concided with the earth tremor incident, Olatunbosun who is representing us in the National Assembly drew the attention of NEMA to what had been happening in the community.”

Abdulwasil Musa who is representing Saki in Oyo State House of Assembly explained that the state government has linked up with the necessary agencies to be alert in case of any further earth tremor.

According to him, after raising the issue on the floor of the House, the Governor set up a committee which visited the community adding that the government is on top of the issue.

Expressing similar optimism, the Special Adviser to the State Government on Solid Mineral and the Chairman of the committee, Mathew Oyedokun noted that they are on top of the issue.

Speaking in his office in Ibadan, he noted that members of the committee made up of relevant government agencies, experts and professionals from the University of Ibadan, visited the community for on the spot assessment.

“We were saddled with the responsibility of visiting the scene of the incident, ascertain what actually happened and find out what the government can do to prevent such occurrence in the future. Because of the conflicting and alarming report we are hearing about the incident, we designed a questionnaire for the people of Saki to tell us from the horse’s mouth what actually happened in their community.”

He explained that from all the data gathered by the committee and oral evidences from the people of the community, the   degree of the earth tremor was minor like 2.3, adding that the people just felt the vibration. He however said that the committee is yet to present its report to Governor Abiola Ajimobi.

Thinking along Oyedokun’s line of thought, Prof. Moshood Tijani of the Department of Geology, University of Ibadan said what happened in Saki was not earth tremor but a wave of rumbling that produces vibration. According to him, “All I can say for now is that it was a strange occurrence. Before one could ascertain what actually happened, one has to carry out a lot of tests and measurements. All my investigation has not confirmed to me that it was a tremor. What I will say is that there was a sort of earth rumbling or strange sound that happened in the area.

“All the indices that will tell me that it is tremor I did not get it. But this situation of earth rumbling can graduate to a tremor. If you say it is earth tremor, the people will experience shaking, something that hangs on the wall will fall down. Tremor is usually an occurrence and people will not hear of it again.  It is energy and the wave is looking for a crack to move, it will look for a zone of weakness and the entire affected place will experience shaking.”

According to him, whether the earth rumbling can degenerate to tremor and earth quake in the future, “that is what a study of the environment will answer. At times when tremor occurred, the river may disappear. Another reason is that if there is tremor, what are the radius and the range?”

He pointed out that there is need for a comprehensive study of the area in order to ascertain what actually happened and what to do next. There is need to install seismography that will assist to know what is there. If the government   has the people at heart they should do something.

SUNDAY  September 11, 2016 was like any other Sundays to residents of Kwoi, headquarters of Jaba Local Government Area of Kaduna State. Those who are predominantly Christians had gone to their various churches for Sunday service.

Suddenly, around 10am, deafening sounds rent the airspace, causing serious vibrations of the earth. The incident, which was the first of its kind, threw Kwoi town into pandemonium and church services ended abruptly.

Even though, the development was proven to residents by experts to be an earth tremor and not an earthquake as earlier feared, intermittent occurrence of the incident between last Sunday and Wednesday afternoon has apparently sent fears down the spines of the people, who thought it was bigger than a tremor.

Though, damages done are mild but the people interpreted the repeated vibrations and loud sounds to a foreboding of a possible earthquake.

A Kaduna-based International Radio reporter, Suleiman Yakubu who just travelled to Kwoi on ‘Sallah’ break, told our correspondent that, the incident has forced people out of their homes.

He said: “Though people have not started fleeing the community, but as I talk to you, there is tension. Everyone is standing outside as the earth is vibrating under their feet. It started since morning and if it continues like this till evening. People will have no choice than to leave the town to safer places.” Yakubu spoke before the people actually started fleeing. Another eyewitness, Hon Badugu Nehemiah, said: “Since morning, many people in our villages have been running up and down, because both buildings and the ground have been shaking. Many churches had to cut short their Sunday service programmes because of the earthquake threat. As I am speaking with you, the ground is still shaking,” he said.

Meanwhile, as at Thursday morning, non-native residents of Kwoi had fled the communities after evacuating their property. The desperation of the non-natives to flee the town was heightened by a much smaller tremor, which was experienced in Kwoi town on Wednesday, two days after the last one, which was thought to be the last.

Sources in Kwoi said Igbo, Hausa and other non-native tribes’ shops were locked up after they had moved out with their ware and personal belongings.

It was also gathered that even those who were into other forms of employment both in the private and public sectors have fled the town.

According to a source, Jonathan Sati, a native of Jaba , “There was a small tremor on Tuesday night and another on Wednesday afternoon. The Igbo traders and other people that are not from here made up their minds to finally leave. The majority had moved out between Sunday afternoon and today (Thursday).

“On Monday, there were 26 vibrations. Those that stayed back were not sure. But now, they are leaving. I can’t remember any of them that I know who is still around. Unless non-Ham (Kwoi dialect) women who are married here.

“As for us the natives, we can’t really think of where to go now because this is our ancestral land. But, that does not mean that we are not scared. We are all living in fear, especially that the incidents are happening repeatedly,” he said. The tremor had cracked several houses and caused partial demolition of  others.

One of the victims whose houses were affected, Major General Yusuf Pyeng (rtd) said: “We are living in constant fear not knowing what will happen next. The tremor is so terrifying and we are desperate to know what is the cause and the future reaction. We are waiting for the geologists’ final report to know if we are staying or vacating the community. My house is well solidified, but because of the tremor there are cracks,” he said.

Another resident, Emmanuel Musa, told The Nation that, “we no longer sleep with our two eyes closed. We had thought that the incident will occur and just go away like that. But now, it is making us scared.

“Everyday since after the first incident, people have been leaving the town, but some of us were laughing at them then, but now, we are also scared, especially that the incident has been happening repeatedly.

“If one is inside the house and the tremor starts, you just have to come out, because the house will be shaking as if it is going to fall on you.