Oyo residents flee as ‘earthquake’ hits more communities

Several residents have abandoned their homes in panic following reported earth tremors at Koomi, Medina, Balako, Salam Salam as well as , Dauru-Salam communities in Saki, Oyo State.
NigerianEye gathered that residents fled the communities out of fear of the likelihood of earthquake as the noise being heard from beneath the earth surface was frightening.

Shakiru Adelabu, a furniture maker based in Balako, one of the affected communities, said the noise didn’t start recently, it has been on the increase in the past days. He added that the persistent noise from below the earth surface had led to the departure of a good number of people from Balako and Medina, where the tremor is most noticeable.

“We have been hearing the frightening sound for a while now but it became louder during the week and lot of people decided to relocate out of fear. Some people came from the city to take their people away and they told us it could be an earthquake coming. This made more people to pack their things. The tremor is really frightening and nothing has been done to stop it,” he said.

The Deputy Speaker of Oyo State who is an indigene of one of the communities in the area, Hon. Musa Abdulwasiu, raised an alarm during the week, calling on the state and federal agencies to help profer solution to the tremor. While assuring the people that help will come, he appealed to relevant authorities to act fast to forestal possible dangers.

“ I have been to the affected areas with very senior members of the Geology Department from University of Ibadan. They hinted that there is likelihood of heavy movement of rocks in the water channel beneath the ground in those affected areas. They also advised that evacuation of residents of affected areas is the only solution to tremor and possible earthquake after establishing degree of tremor. Honestly, they told us that no one could ascertain for now the degree of the tremor and whether it will lead to earthquake or not,” he said.

But the Oyo State Government has assured residents that efforts were on to avert environmental hazards. Commissioner for Environment and Water Resources, Chief Isaac Ishola gave the assurance while monitoring the areas affected by an earth tremor in Saki-West Local Government area. He explained that the visit was on-the-spot assessment to ascertain the earth tremor that occurred in some parts of the town and to proffer solutions to forestall the occurrence of natural disaster in the area.

He noted that findings by experts indicated that the earth tremor was a fore-shake, which was not capable of causing the earthquake. Ishola said the state government would liaise with the Federal Government to procure the seismic machine needed to check the gravity of tremor.

But in spite of the assurances, more communities are being deserted in the area as residents of neighboring communities, out of fear, are also leaving their abode to seek safer accommodations farther away from the tremor.

Consequently, communities like Afote, Oba Abimbola, Oke Suna, Ahere Oloke, Aroje and Elegede are daily losing their residents to the ongoing exodus. Spaeking to The Nation about the growing migration, Hon. Jamiu Abdulrasheed, a retired teacher resident in Aroje, said the migration is largely caused by unconfirmed reports that some of the experts who visited the place advised the government to evacuate the people because of a looming danger.

“We are hearing different types of reports. People are spreading a rumor that some of the experts who visited the place advised the government to evacuate the people because of a looming danger. That is why people are running away. But I learnt that our own communities here are not affected. Anyway, I will wait until relevant agencies come here to tell me to move my family,” he said.