BULAWAYO – A mild 3.2 magnitude earthquake rocked parts of southern Zimbabwe on Tuesday evening.
The quake was set for 9:42 p.m., according to the South African National Network of Seismographs Geoscience Council. It was 10 kilometers deep.
Its epicenter was 19 kilometers northwest of the second-largest city of Bulawayo, but it was felt as far away as Francistown in Botswana – about 148 kilometers away.
Witnesses who submitted reports to the Volcano Discovery website said the quake was quite weak.
“The tremors felt like movements in the ceiling and they intensified towards the walls and windows,” wrote one from Tshelanyemba Hospital in Kezi.
“I felt like a truck was driving by from a long way off,” said a Cowdray Park resident.
Two witnesses also reported “clicking” and “clicking” sounds in Francistown.
“Around 9:37 p.m. I heard windows rattle but thought there might be a huge vehicle moving nearby,” one said.
Another added: ‘I heard windows rumbling and rattling like a big mining truck passing a few yards away.
In Maphisa, a business center in Kezi, Matabeleland South, a witness reported “moderate tremors”.
“Shaking, building vibrations and terrifying,” the person wrote.
The largest earthquake ever recorded in Zimbabwe was a magnitude 7.0 earthquake that had its epicenter near Chipinge on February 23, 2006.
Most of the country’s seismic activity has generally taken place in the mountainous eastern regions of Zimbabwe, in towns and villages bordering Mozambique.
• RosGwen24 News/ additional report by Kukurigo Updates
