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Kenya, Nairobi Earthquake

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Moderate earthquake close to Nairobi, Kenya

Last update: April 17, 2012 at 8:55 am by By 

Most important Earthquake Data:
Magnitude :
UTC Time : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 02:01:27 UTC
Local time at epicenter : Tuesday, April 17, 2012 at 05:01:27 AM at epicenter
Depth (Hypocenter) : 10 km
Geo-location(s) :
33 km (20 miles) NNW of NAIROBI, Kenya
81 km (50 miles) NW of Machakos, Kenya
109 km (67 miles) SE of Nakuru, Kenya


Seismic hazard map for the greater area of this earthquake – The darker the color, the more chance that an earthquake would strike

– The East African Rift is an active continental rift zone in eastern Africa that appears to be a developing divergent tectonic plate boundary (spreading plates) . In the past it was considered to be part of a larger Great Rift Valley that extended north to Turkey. The rift is a narrow zone in which the African Plate is in the process of splitting into two new tectonic plates called the Somali Plate and the Nubian Plate, which are subplates or protoplates. See picture of the plates at the bottom of this article.

– The epicenter is located below Ngenya and close to the  Thika Dam.  The Thika dam is approx. 15 km from the shallow epicenter, but it should be no problem at all to withstand a moderate quake like the one from today.

– The intensity of the shaking is not strong enough to inflict serious damage or injuries, but can cause some cracks in walls as the houses in Kenya are mostly made of brick or adobe and are this very vulnerable for damage when serious shaking is taking place.

– The intensity reported from Nairobi is III MMI = a weak shaking

– The earthquake can be called unusual so close to for Nairobi, but not unusual for Kenya as Kenya is part of the tectonics very active rift valley with spreading plates. These spreading plates are “hanging” on regular intervals and are even the reason for the many volcanoes the country has within its borders.

for more information and updates, go to:    http://earthquake-report.com/2012/04/17/moderate-earthquake-close-to-nairobi-kenya/