Abstract
In 1939, Ghana experienced its severest earthquake with a local magnitude of 6.5. It resulted in the death of 17 people and caused significant damage to property. Since then, there have been reported occurrences of earthquakes, though the region is generally considered a stable continental area with few active tectonic features. This seismic region is generally characterized by a major active fault line which stretches from the McCarthy Hill area in Accra westwards towards Kasoa-Nyanyanu in the Central Region and eastwards towards the Akwapim Ridge all the way to the Volta Region. The epicenter of the 22 June 1939 earthquake is located 25 km off the coast of Accra near Kasoa-Nyanyanu in the west. An earthquake occurrence and observation survey was conducted in March 2019, following three earthquakes recorded in March and December 2018 and March 2019 with local magnitude ranging from 3.0 to 4.8. The events were mostly felt by residents in the southern part of the country, who were consequently thrown into a state of panic. The main objective of the survey was to assess the perception, experiences, and adaptation strategies to seismic events of randomly sampled residents of the area. Questionnaires were administered during the survey in the Awutu Senya East and Weija-Gbawe Municipalities. It was found that though the majority of residents are aware that they live in an earthquake prone area, they have put little to no measures in place to mitigate the seismic risk.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akoto MA, Anum SA (1992) Monitoring recent microseismic activity in Ghana. Tectonophysics 209(1-4):43–46
Ambraseys NN, Adams RD (1986) Seismicity of West Africa. Ann Geophys 4, B, 6:679–702
Amponsah PE (2002) Seismic activity in relation to fault systems in southern Ghana. J Afr Earth Sci 35:227–234
Amponsah PE (2004) Seismic activity in Ghana: past, present and future. Ann Geophys 47(N.2/3):239–543
Amponsah PE, Leydecker G, Muff R (2012) Earthquake catalogue of Ghana for the time period 1615–2003 with special reference to the tectono-structural evolution of South-East Ghana. J Afr Earth Sci 75:1–13
Ankrah JK (1982) The geology of Weija area. B.Sc. Thesis. University of Ghana, Legon. pp 3–14
Bacon M, Banson JKA (1979) Recent seismicity of southeastern Ghana. Earth Planet Sci Lett 44:43–46
Bondessen E, Schmidt AFJ (1972) Holocene tectonic activity in West Africa dated by archaeological methods: discussion. Geol Soc Am Bull 83:1193–1196
Doku MS, Amponsah PE, Adomako D (2013) b-value estimation for the greater Accra metropolitan area. Elixir Nucl Radiat Phys 73(2014):26218–26224
Gorshkov AI, Panza GF, Soloviev AA, Aoudia A (2003) Recognition of strong earthquake-prone areas (M ≥ 6.0) within mountain belts of Central Europe. Preprint IC/2003/22, ICTP, Trieste, Italy.pp 1-9
Junner NR (1941) The Accra Earthquake of 22nd June, 1939. Bulletin 13. Gold Coast Geological Survey, pp 3–41
Kesse GO (1985) The mineral and rock resources of Ghana. A.A.Balkema Publishers, Rottterdam, 610 pp
Sykes RL (1978) Intraplate seismicity, reactivation of pre-existing zones of weakness, alkaline magmatism and other tectonism postdating continental fragmentation. Rev Geophys Space Phys 16(4):621–682
Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to the staff of the National Data Center of the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission and the National Disaster Management Organization of Weija-Gbawe and Awutu Senya Municipalities. We appreciate and thank the Ghana Geological Survey Authority for permitting the use of the seismic data. Also grateful to the National Nuclear Research Institute for their assistance. We would like to thank all residents who willingly participated in the interviews. The authors acknowledge the Organizing Committee of the 2nd Conference of the Arabian Journal of Geosciences for contributing to the participation of one of the authors to the conference in Sousse, Tunisia. This research is prepared in the frame of the IGCP-659 (UNESCO) project on the Seismic Hazard and Risk in Africa. The authors are very thankful to the reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments.
Funding
The financial support was provided by the UNESCO Paris.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This article is part of the Topical Collection on Seismic Hazard and Risk in Africa
Electronic supplementary material
ESM 1
(DOCX 17 kb).
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Amponsah, P., Opoku-Ntim, I. & Nortey, G. Seismic risk in Ghana: efforts and challenges. Arab J Geosci 13, 717 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05665-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-020-05665-4