Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) has issued directive suspending quarrying and mining activities and borehole drilling in Mpape, Garki and Gwarimpa districts of Abuja due to reported incident of earth tremor in Abuja.
There shall be no such activities in these places until the outcome of investigations on the cause(s) of the incident.
The order was given in Mpape, the epicentre of the incident on Friday when the FCT Permanent Secretary, Mr Chinyeaka Ohaa visited the squatter settlement.
He assured residents of the affected areas that geological experts had confirmed that Abuja is not on the line of major seismic danger, adding that government would engage both local and international geological experts to unravel the cause(s) of the tremor.
Preliminary reports, he said, indicate that rock blasting, quarrying, mining as well as indiscriminate drilling of boreholes are likely causes of the tremor.
According to Ohaa, it became necessary to suspend all quarrying activities on various sites of Abuja, especially Mpape, Garki, Gwarimpa and contiguous areas.
The District Head of Mpape, Abubakar Ibrahim Gimba as well as the chairman of Mpape Residents Association, Ameh Christian recalled that the community had experienced tremor in the past but the recent incident was more serious.
Gimba noted that the assurances given by the administration would go a long way in calming the residents.
Meanwhile, the FCT Emergency Management Agency has advised the public to contact it through 112 toll-free number in case of any emergency.