Breaking: Earthquake hits Manicaland

Oscar J Jeke

Zim Now Reporter

A magnitude. 3.9 earthquake with hit Nyazura, 52 km west of Mutare, this Friday, Jul 19, 2024, at 15:40 CAT.

The weak quake is believed to have hit Odzi, Rusape and Dorowa with very weak impact in Mutare and Headlands.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre was the first to announce the earthquake at 15:49 CAT.

According to Volcano Discovery the quake had a very shallow depth of 10 km (6 mi) and was not felt (or at least not reported so). At time of publication this reporter could not find any reports of tremor experiences on social media or relevant agencies.

Various other agencies including National Geographic have since released data on the earthquake saying estimated seismic energy released was at 4.5 x 1010 joules (12.4 megawatt hours, equivalent to 10.7 tons of TNT).

The data collection and analysing centres said Mutare residents may have experienced very weak shaking while those in areas closer to the epicenter and might have experienced stronger shaking.

No impact could have been felt in Harare.

The last quake in the area had a magnitude of 4.5 and occurred on Sunday, May 21, 2006, at 11:55 CAT 55 km away.