Kwoi 2016 Multiple Tremors: An Emerging Geotourism Phenomenon

For a stretch of three days, the residents of Kwoi, Central Nigeria were held hostage by what is now accepted as an earth tremor of magnitudes ranging between 2.9 and 3.1. In its initial stages, various versions of interpretations were given including religious and traditional myths. These triggered national and international attention making the area to be temporarily a tourist’s attraction of some sorts with different groups visiting and reporting different versions. The aim of this paper is to report first hand the occurrence of systematic cracks on rocks and buildings as well as the safety aspects associated with this tremor. The study confirms that this is a purely geoscientific phenomena triggered by deep seated tectonic movements manifested on the surface through short distance travel of the accompanying vibrations which lead to collapse and breakage of buildings. It is unpredictably episodic but relatively safe for tourists as an intra-cratonic tremor.