The Professor of Remote Sensing and Earth Systems Science at the Chapman University in the US, Hesham al-Askary, said that Ethiopia has recorded a significant increase in the number of earthquakes recently, especially after the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD).
During a Saturday evening telephone interview on the al-Hadath al-Youm channel, Askary explained that the African Rift Valley region is indeed seismically active, but the recent increase in the rate of earthquakes is a cause for concern.
The earthquakes so far are still far from the GERD area, he said, noting that the only worrying earthquake was in 2023, which was just 100 kilometers away from the dam.
Askary referred to further research into the earthquakes that could occur as a result of the pressure of the GERD’s lake on the earth’s crust, stating: “I cannot say scientifically that the lake is what led to the frequency of earthquakes, but I can say that something strange is happening.”
“We monitored the dam bridge via satellites, dampness of water in some places, during periods when there is no rain, meaning that it is not rainwater, there is water leaking in one way or another. The water leakage is a cause for great concern.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
