Light earthquake strikes Kenya

A light earthquake hit several counties in Kenyan on Sunday, including Nairobi, Nyeri, Mombasa, Machakos, Makueni, Tharaka Nithi, Taita Taveta and Kiambu.

The earth tremors were experienced on Sunday evening at about 7pm and lasted for several seconds.

The Kenya Meteorological Department confirmed the earthquake in a phone call to NTV Kenya but said there is no cause for alarm.

According to the www.earthquaketrack.com, a 4.8 magnitude quake hit Wundanyi in Taita Taveta County at 7.21pm.

Another earthquake tracker, www.emsc-csem.org, reported a magnitude 4 quake in Spain with a depth of 10km that occured about the same time as the one felt in Kenya.

Reports of the tremors were reported by Kenyans online to the www.volcanicdiscovery.com from as far as Chogoria in Tharaka Nithi and Nanyuki in Laikipia.

“I was watching TV and thought the dogs were bumping up against my chair. Then I heard a rumbling and the windows hummed a little. Realized it was an earthquake,” read a comment posted on the Volcanic Discovery website by someone in Nyeri County.

Writing on his Twitter timeline, Scott Bellows, who is a lecturer at the United States International University-Africa, said those in coastal Kenya (Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi, Lamu and Diani) should seek higher ground as a precaution.

Mr Bellows, however, is not a geologist but an assistant professor of management at USIU-Africa.

“Leave low lying areas near the beach until given an all clear after geologists pinpoint earthquake epicentre. Possible tsunami,” said Mr Bellows.

After the tremors, lights went out in several counties even though it is not clear that the black out was linked to the earthquake.