By Emmanuel Onyango
The impact of a quake that shook Nairobi and its surroundings was felt even on social media where it triggered hilarious jokes and insinuations amid anti-government protests in the country.
Earthquake monitor, which offers real-time information on earthquakes, said the epicenter for the magnitude 4.7 tremor was 95 km southwest of the Kenyan capital and "should not have caused significant damage".
It said the tremor had a very shallow depth of 10 km and was felt widely in the area.
But the tremor coincided with a day of violent anti-government demonstrations in the country as protesters continue to pile up pressure on President William Ruto to resign.
At least three people were killed and dozens injured in Tuesday’s protests that were marked by teargas and gunfire.
Many demonstrators blame Ruto for misgovernance, corruption and the deaths of dozens of protesters during earlier anti-government rallies.
The coincidence of the quake and the protests did not go unnoticed on social media.
Kenyans picked up their TikTok and X megaphones to suggest that the quake was a ''message from above'' to the government, while others pondered on other “real” reasons behind the seismic activity.
Some mockingly claimed the tremor was the sound of Zakayo - a Swahili word for the biblical figure Zacchaeus - climbing down a tree after meeting Jesus.
Dispelling myth
Zakayo is a local reference to President William Ruto who has been likened to the biblical tax collector over his now-shelved proposal to increase taxes. In the past, the Kenyan president said he was fine being nicknamed Zakayo.
However, experts say the quake was a natural geological occurrence with no links with the current stand-off between the authorities and protesters.
''This was one of those expected to occur in Kenya’s Rift Valley region, but this was slightly higher in magnitude than what usually happens. It was not common but not rare,'' Gladys Kianji, lead seismologist at the University of Nairobi told TRT Afrika.
The seismologist dispelled the hilarious jokes some Kenyans made about the quake linking it with the protests.
'Let's be careful'
''It’s just a coincidence that it happened during the ongoing protests. Scientifically there is no relation, this was a natural phenomenon and no one has any control over it and it can happen any time,'' she said.
Kenya lies on East Africa's Great Rift Valley, a geological fault line, but has never witnessed major earthquakes.
''Earthquakes are unpredictable but we know from records that big quakes do happen. Kenya has previously experienced a 6.9 magnitude in 1928 in Subukia. We just need to know we live in an active region and we need to be careful,'' Kianji added.
➤ Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel for more stories.
