Kenya experienced a moderate earthquake on Sunday, registering a magnitude of 4.5 near its coastal towns and the city of Mombasa.
According to seismic records, the earthquake struck the Indian Ocean in the afternoon at around 4:17pm.
While the exact depth of the quake was not determined, it is believed to have been shallow and was felt by many residents near the epicenter, located in the Indian Ocean.
The shallow nature of the quake made its tremors more pronounced near the epicentre compared to a deeper earthquake of similar strength.
According to data from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the depth of the quake extended to 10km from the epicentre and was felt across 13 seismic stations.
Further, the data demonstrated that the quake was felt by people in Mombasa, which is approximately 78km southwest of the epicentre.
Many smaller towns and villages closer to the epicentre, including Kilifi, Vipingo, Watamu, Malindi, Takaungu, and Voi, likely experienced stronger shaking.
However, in the capital city of Nairobi, located 427km from the epicentre, the earthquake was not felt.
Sunday’s earthquake was the strongest to hit Kenya’s coastal region in over 30 years, with the last quake of similar or greater strength being a magnitude 4.9 recorded on Monday, February 27, 1995, at 3:22pm local time, about 51km southwest of the latest epicentre.
The strongest earthquake ever recorded in Kenya since 1900 was a magnitude 5.5, which struck 35 years ago on Wednesday, March 14, 1990, at 2:05am local time in the Indian Ocean.
On July 16 last year, a section of Kenyans revealed experiencing earthquakes, which lasted for about 10 minutes.
This was experienced not only in Nairobi but in other parts of the country as well, including Magadi, Kajiado, Kikuyu, Limuru, and Athi River.
Earthquakes are mainly caused by the sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust due to the movement of tectonic plates. These large plates are constantly moving but can get stuck at their edges because of friction.
When the stress on these edges becomes too much, they slip along a fault line, releasing energy as seismic waves, which cause the shaking we feel during an earthquake, according to the German Research Centre for Geosciences.
