FG to Boost Disaster Preparedness with National Seismic Monitoring Initiative
The federal government has officially inaugurated the Nigerian Geological Survey Agency (NGSA) National Seismic Monitoring Station 5, aimed at expanding disaster preparedness nationwide.
The government said this came as a response to the recent unexpected earth tremors in Nigeria, underscoring the nation's low preparedness for geo-hazard events like tremors and earthquakes.
Speaking, yesterday in Abuja, at the inauguration ceremony organised by the NGSA, the Minister of Solid Minerals Development, Dele Alake, attributed the lack of readiness to the belief that Nigeria was not situated on active earthquake zones, a misconception that has now prompted urgent action.
Alake noted that the federal government aims to enhance its ability to estimate and mitigate the impact of natural disasters, marking a historic effort to protect the well-being of the Nigerian people.
“In 2016 alone, Nigeria witnessed two occurrences of earth tremor in Bayelsa and Shaki. A year later in 2017, another tremor occurred in Kwoi, Kaduna State resulting in minor damages on buildings and road infrastructures and on 5th September, 2018, the Mpape tremor took place affecting areas such as Maitama, Katampe and part of Gwarinpa. Just when the dust was about to settle, another earth shaking was felt at Panama street of Maitama District on November 1st, 2018.
“The absence of a single seismic detection and monitoring instrument in the FCT then has hindered proper understanding of the nature and origin of these tremors.
“The Ministry after gathering reports on the likely causes of the tremor from NGSA and other relevant bodies immediately banned all quarrying and drilling activities within the FCT as temporary measures and directed the immediate installation of earthquake monitoring stations in strategic locations around the FCT.
“These stations are located in University of Abuja Gwagwalada, Nasarawa State University, Keffi and the Veritas University, Bwari, with the center at NGSA Headquarters Utako.
Other stations are NGSA Offices in Kaduna and Ilorin. These seismic monitoring stations will enable the detection and monitoring of future occurrence of earthquake and tremor in and around the FCT and shall therefore help to upscale the level of safety in the FCT.
“In addition to the above, the data generated from the stations are critically required by researchers and construction companies to aid their decisions on siting of infrastructures such as dams, bridges, mines, processing plants, airports, high rise buildings, military and communication installations and other heavy infrastructures that require competent and stable foundations,” he added.
Alake further expressed the ministry's commitment to supporting NGSA in maintaining and actively operating all seismic monitoring stations.
Director General NGSA, Dr. Abdulrazaq Garba, on his part, emphasised the need to deepen NGSA's capacity in Seismic Monitoring through staff training.
He underscored the importance of modern technical innovations in seismology, instrumentation, earthquake source parameter detections, seismogram analysis, instrument configuration, and calibration.
“A robust seismic monitoring capability aligns with the federal government’s Renewed Hope Agenda as it concerns sustainable urban development involving the integration of technology, innovation, and strategic planning to create an environment that is efficient, resilient, and responsive to the needs of the nation.
“The agency is adopting and integrating innovative technology for data acquisition, data integration, modeling, and predictive geoscience as well as earth systems monitoring and integrated data management as a strategy to enhance national security and development.”