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Engr. Dr. Ebenezer Ankomah Gyamera, Land Use and Spatial Planning lecturer at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), has said that the earth tremor that occurred in some parts of the country on Wednesday, June 24, was facilitated by some huge buildings in places termed as earthquake-prone areas.

According to him, one of the causes of the Wednesday incident was huge storey buildings built in these earthquake-prone zones.

“Areas like Kasoa, Weija, [and] others are having these huge buildings which shouldn’t receive a single storey building, let alone having these huge buildings so it will cause these kinds of displacement,” Dr Gyamera told TV Africa.

He added, “These occurrences [are] the earth movement due to the stress on the desert rock...and other actions that cause the movement of the earth. It also happened due to geologic reasons beneath the ground.”

He observed that other natural factors can also lead to these kinds of earth movement.

Dr Gyamera stated that anytime he passes by these earthquake prone areas and sees the huge buildings being built by some residents he feels that there is a disaster waiting to happen soon.

“As Ghanaians we don’t care about anything…these huge storey buildings put pressure on the desert rocks. We don’t even go in for permits from the Geological Survey Department. Anytime we are to put up huge buildings, we need to get a geological report to show whether or not the ground can contain the building,” he advised.

He explained that the tremor is a warning that something might happen therefore there should be some measures in place to curtail it.

Parts of Accra were shaken by a fleeting earth tremor last Wednesday night which threw residents into fear and panic.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the tremors recorded a magnitude of 4.0 with a 10.0-kilometre depth at 10: 53 pm.

It was felt three times in a space of 10 minutes and shook buildings.

Some of the areas the tremor was felt were Gbawe, McCarthy Hill, Kaneshie, Tesano, Dansoman and Dunkonaa.

Others are Abeka Lapaz, Achimota, Santa Maria, Adenta, Weija, and East Legon.

The rest are Madina, Kwabenya, Nsawam, Koforidua, Swedru, Dodowa, and Tema.