Oil not cause of earthquake
Jul 05, 2013
The tremor that hit the East Africa region and originated from an earthquake in Lake Albert, is not a result of the intensified oil and gas exploration activities, a Ugandan official has confirmed.
By Ibrahim Kasita
The tremors that hit the East Africa region this week and originated from an earthquake in Lake Albert, are not a result of the intensified oil and gas exploration activities, a Ugandan official has confirmed.
Although it is true that the origin of the earth quake was in the Lake Albert rift (Hoima) it is not true that it was caused by oil exploration, according the Fred Kabagambe-Kaliisa the permanent secretary in the ministry of energy and mineral development.
“Uganda is earth quake prone with or without oil. Earth quakes occurs in areas which have deep seated faultlines because there is relative movement that happens on either side of the faults,”said Kabagambe-Kaliisa.
“The challenge is you cannot know when it is going to happen. But for sure you can know where its epicenter is (origin) and measure it using the Richter scales to know its magnitude,” the senior geologist explained.
He also said Uganda recorded different figures for the earthquake, different from that mentioned internationally.
He noted that on July 2, 2013 at 13:33:17 GMT (16:33:17, local time) an earthquake of magnitude 5.0 was recorded at Seismic stations of the Department of Geological Survey and Mines in Entebbe.
On July 3, 2013 an earthquake occurred at 19: 21:46 GMT (22:21:46 local time). It measured a magnitude of 5.6 on the Richter scale and was later followed by another one that occurred at 22:22:18 GMT (01:22:18) in the morning of July 4, 2013 and measured 5.4 on the Richter scale.
This is contrary to what the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported. The centre said the earth quake was measured at a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale and classified as "dangerous".
“All these three earth quakes have epicentres located in Lake Albert in western Uganda,” Kabagambe-Kaliisa explained.
The tremors were widely felt in many parts of Uganda, the DRC, Rwanda and Burundi.