03 Jan 2018

In the year 2017 Botswana experienced an earthquake that measured 6.5 in a Richter scale, which occurred in the Central District.
It was the second strongest earthquake recorded in Botswana after the 6.7-magnitude earthquake in Maun, which occurred in 1952.

A 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck Botswana at around 255am in a remote area in the northern part of the country at the village of Moiyabana. Moiyabana, 132 kilometres west of the quake’s epicentre, was the only village reported to have recorded damage caused by the quake.
Students at the village’s junior secondary school fled the school after the quake.

It was reported that as the earthquake happened during study time, a stampede broke-out since everyone tried to escape in fear for their lives and minor injuries were recorded.
Some minor casualties and structural damages were reported as far as 130 kilometres away from the epicentre.

Strong earthquakes are rare in Southern Africa and extremely rare in Botswana, owing to the country’s topography.

Geologists revealed that the earthquake occurred over a thousand kilometres from the nearest tectonic plate boundary, scientifically known as an ‘intraplate’ earthquake.
It has been suggested that the rupture occurred partly due to the gradual transfer of push and pull stresses from the East African Rift towards the more stable part of the continent. ENDS