The Senate has called on the National Emergency
Management Agency and other relevant government agencies to begin to
take proactive measures on the repeated earth tremor in some parts of
Kaduna State.
The measures, the Senate said, included educating Nigerians on what to expect and how to react when tremor occurs.
While adopting a three-prayer motion sponsored by
Senator Danjuma La’ah (APC, Kaduna-South) titled ‘Earth Tremor and the
Preparedness of Nigeria to Deal with its Intending Consequences,’ the
Senate urged all stakeholders to take the earth tremor being recorded in
parts of the country seriously.
The lawmakers also urged NEMA and security
agencies to intervene through public enlightenment and drills to be
prepared, saying minimal resources would be required at the warning
stage.
The Senate mandated the Committee on Environment
and Solid Minerals to make a fact-finding tour of the affected
communities and report to the chamber.
La’ah, while moving his motion, stated that he was
saddened that the tremor had left in its trail a traumatic experience
to the inhabitants of Kwoi and its environs. He added that the tremor
had also caused serious cracks in buildings, thereby making their
habitation fearful and dangerous.
The Senator recalled that the first widely
reported occurrence of an earth tremor in Nigeria was in 1933. He said
other tremors were reported in 1939,1964, 1984, 1990, 1994, 1997, 2000
and 2006.
La’ah further recalled that following the tremor
that occurred on September 11, 2009 which was recorded in Oyo and other
parts of the South-West and with the recent ones in Bayelsa and Kaduna
states, researchers had warned that the incidences were signs that
Nigeria was no longer immune to earthquake.
According to the senator, the
Lagos-Ibadan-Ijebu-Ode fault system was another belt where an earth
tremor was witnessed in July and August 1984, stressing that these fault
system could serve as a zone of weakness for the propagation of shocks
from far away plate boundaries.
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