TheCable

Adekunle Adepelumi, a professor of geophysics at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun, said an earth tremor — a moderate earthquake — was recorded in the state.

An earth tremor is a movement of the earth surface, usually caused by stress in underground rocks; it is caused by the same forces that result in earthquakes, but it is more moderate.

In a preliminary report, Adepelumi said the earth tremor, which was recorded around 11am on June 5, measured 2.6 in moment magnitude and 2.4 in local magnitude on the Richter scale, while it had a focal depth of 15km.

In his report, the professor stated that the epicentre of the earth tremor is somewhere along the north-west/south east direction of Ile-Ife, Osun state, roughly placed close to Omu-Aran in the north-central area of Kwara state.

Chukwudi Njoku, a geographer and researcher at the University of Calabar, told TheCable that Nigeria needs to be more vigilant in case of severe incidents, because going by the report, the fault system that led to the tremor is still active.

“It means that the fault system in Nigeria is still active, thus we should be more vigilant,” Njoku said.

“Measures should be taken by necessary government agencies to check activities that can trigger tremors, and fund centres that will monitor such activities and give warnings on more severe incidents.”

The development comes after an earth tremor occurred in Mpape area of Abuja in 2018.