Yesterday, some parts of Accra, particularly the western part, including Weija and Gbawe, experienced three tremors, the foreshock at 11:49 a.m. with a magnitude of 2.1, the second at 11:53 a.m. measuring 3.5 and the third at 11:58 a.m. at 1.8 on the Richter scale.
According to some eyewitness information, the tectonic incidents were also experienced in the Central Business District (CBD) of Accra, especially around the Bank of Ghana area, where some people attempted to move away from buildings to safety.
It is said that the strongest of the tremors reached a magnitude of 4.0 on the Richter scale, which is normally moderate yet one of the strongest earthquakes in Ghana’s history.
A moderate earthquake is said to register up to 5.9 magnitude and causes slight damage to buildings and other structures.
In the world’s seismically most active zones of the Circum-Pacific belt, the Alpide belt, the mid-Atlantic Ridge magnitudes sometimes go from 6 to as much as 9.5 and cause unimaginable fatalities.
For instance, in the Alpine belt, Sumatra (in Indonesia) recorded an earthquake of 9.1 magnitude in 2004, which generated a tsunami that killed over 230,000 people, and in the same region, Pakistan in 2005 recorded 7.6 magnitude earthquake, which killed over 80,000 people.
Earthquakes in Ghana started to be recorded in 1636 and have continued to occur at certain intervals ever since, with the three major ones so far having occurred in 1862, 1906 and 1939.
The 1862 one, of magnitude of 6.3, hit the coastal part of the country and recorded three deaths; the 1906, occurring in Ho and said to have been felt in Togo and Benin, was 6.2 and caused much damage but no fatality; and the June 22, 1939 occurred in Accra and killed at least 17.
It must be noted that earthquakes cannot be prevented and can strike anywhere at any time, yet it has been historically observed that they occur in the same general patterns.
It means they would experience both weak and strong incidents and so some measures can be taken.
Japan, one the most earthquake-prone countries in the world, for instance, has developed its seismic network to the point that it can recognise all earthquakes.
With this information, Japan has constructed earthquake-proof buildings that have helped it cope with numerous powerful quakes that would have been extremely disastrous in less-prepared earthquake-prone countries like Indonesia, which are less-prepared.
How well is Ghana prepared for a major earthquake?
We know some mess has already been caused in the country’s housing system — can that be corrected?
Fortunately, Japan is available and can help safeguard life in earthquake-prone parts of the country.