Magnitude 4.9 earthquake hits South Sudan-Uganda border

November 13, 2023 (YEI) – A 4.9 magnitude earthquake struck the South Sudan-Uganda border area on Monday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.

The quake was at a depth of 8 km (4.97 miles), the EMSC said, without further details.

Earthquakes occur as a result of tectonic plates, the uppermost layer of the earth’s solid shell, colliding. Earthquakes can also result from the sudden energy releases in the earth’s solid shell which create seismic waves that result in the ground shaking.

Earthquakes constitute one of the most deadly naturally triggered disasters in the world.

In September 2016, a huge earthquake measuring a magnitude of 5.7 occurred on the Richter scale and struck Uganda and other countries in the Lake Victoria basin region.

The deadliest earthquake on record killed 655,000 people in Tangshan Province in China in 1976. The Tangshan earthquake had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale.

(ST)