Social media personality and radio presenter Arthur Mandela, popularly known as xtiandela posted on Twitter on August 12 claiming to have experienced an earth tremor in Ruaka. Many responding to his tweet thought that it’s probably just a gimmick to “get trending”.
Background
Earth tremors are defined as involuntary quivering movements that occur after the main shock of an earthquake. The tremors are felt as aftershocks of a major earthquake or felt several hundred of kilometres from the epicentre of an earthquake.
The East Africa region is especially prone to earthquakes due to the 6,000 kilometre-long Rift Valley, the largest continental seismic rift system on Earth, cutting across seven countries.
Mandela’s tweet was soon followed by other tweets of people experiencing tremors in areas such as Changamwe in Mombasa, Redhill, Gigiri and other areas around Nairobi. The tremors were all experienced between 8:00 pm and 9:15 pm. This created panic to some Nairobi residents especially with a history of houses collapsing. The tremors were experienced for a few seconds before receding.
Verification
According to Earthquake Track, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake was experienced at around 8:00 pm at Kilindoni a small town in the Pwani region of Tanzania. The earthquake was felt in parts of Kenya as far as Nyeri and some parts of Nairobi.
There have been no reports of fatalities or damages with authorities yet to speak about the earthquake. According to BNO News, this is the strongest earthquake to hit the region since September 2016 when a 5.9 magnitude quake hit Northwest Tanzania.
Verdict
The claims that earth tremors were experienced on Wednesday, August 12 in some parts of Kenya is TRUE.
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