A 4,6 magnitude earthquake hit the Kariba Dam area and parts of neighbouring Zambia yesterday. The Kariba dam wall was reported to have developed cracks way back in 2014 raising fears of a devastating crises if the dam wall was to collapse.
The tremors were felt over a 100km away in the city of Lusaka inZambia.
The director of the geo-survey department in Zambia, Mr Chipilaika Mukofu, told the Post News that they have experts who are assessing whether any damage was caused. However, he said it was too early to know if damage had been done to Kariba Dam. At this time, no reports of any type of structural damage had been reported from the affected districts, but the dam is obviously of some concern.
The dam wall, which was the biggest ever constructed before the 1960s, was widely reported to have structural issues in 2014. The wall had developed structural weaknesses, which could place nearly four million people in three countries at risk. It would also devastate the wildlife of the World Heritage site at Mana Pools in the Zambezi Valley, and, if the dam failed, would destroy the huge Cahora Bassa Dam further downstream inMozambique.
Zimbabwe and Zambia governments have set up a taskforce to monitor and manage the situation at Kariba Dam.