The incident had reportedly forced many residents to flee the community.
Our correspondent gathered that the Tuesday incident which occurred around 9am was accompanied by a heavy vibration.
An earlier tremor had taken place on Monday around 3am.
Following the incidents, schools in the city were shut down and
students, who had just resumed from the long vacation, were asked to
return home.
Many of the residents too had started fleeing the community.
A resident of the community, Ayuba Nok, in a chat with our
correspondent described the Tuesday incident as more serious than the
earlier ones.
Nok said, “Today’s tremor was very loud. It was louder than the
previous ones. Some schools were forced to close. They sent their
students back home.
“Mallam Maude School, LEA Central Primary School and Sabzuro Primary
School were some of the schools which were forced to close as a result
of the sound of the tremor. They were afraid that something worse might
happen.
“The heavy vibration of the tremor happened around 9 am today. It
also occurred on Monday around 3am. The sound of Monday’s tremor was not
as loud and devastating as the one of this morning.
“The Chairman, Mr. Ben Kure, is saying that people should be calm and
stay where they are. But, the people are already frightened and they
are in shock.
“When the incident happened again today, many of us who were thinking
otherwise before decided to leave the town, especially the women and
children. This is because we don’t know probably the whole town may sink
when another one happens. And the government is not doing anything for
now to evacuate people.”
Meanwhile, the Head of Geography Department, Kaduna State University,
Dr. Idowu Abbas, said the constant incident of earth tremor in Kwoi
town might lead to a major earthquake, urging the government to place
the community on a watch list for a possible evacuation.
He said, “It is unfortunate that the tremor happened but it is not
unusual. This is because it can happen anywhere and at any time as long
as there is movement underneath the earth surface. It can happen
anywhere, it is just unfortunate that it happened in Kwoi.
“The tremor could be a signal of a bigger incident in Kwoi. And it
still depends on what happens within the earth surface. I think the
Nigerian Space, Research and Development Agency is already looking into
that. Honestly speaking earth tremor is a small earth quake, the major
earth quake can come.”
Meanwhile, a Non-Governmental Organisation, the Environmental Right
Action and Friends of the Earth Nigeria, has condemned the relevant
authorities for failing to institute a probe to ascertain the causes of
the earth tremors that took place in some communities in Bayelsa and
Rivers states.
Communities such as Mbiama and Okaki in Ahoada West local Government
Area of Rivers State and Igbogene, in Yenagoa LGA of Bayelsa State were
hit by earth tremors in July 2016.
The ERA observed in a field report after visiting the affected
communities that findings from the residents of the communities
confirmed that the incidents were real.
The report which was made available to reporters in Yenagoa on
Tuesday indicated that there was need for the relevant authorities to
institute a body of experts to ascertain the immediate and remote causes
of the earth tremor to avoid future occurrence.
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