Botswana says plans to set up first seismological center by 2021

GABORONE, March 10 (Xinhua) -- Botswana is planning to build a nationwide seismological Center to record and monitor earthquakes, including mining-induced tremors, by 2021, an official with the Botswana Geoscience Institute (BGI) said on Sunday.

Onkgopotse Ntibinyane, a senior seismologist at BGI, told journalists in Gaborone, Botswana's capital city, that the Center will be located in Magotlhwane village, some 70 km south of Gaborone.

"The data that to be collected at the Magotlhwane Center will be sent for archiving and use to both the United Nations body responsible for nuclear test ban and the United States Geological Survey," Ntibinyane said.

He said the BGI has consulted with local stakeholders and will continue to extend the consultations both nationally and internationally ahead of the planned set-up deadline of 2021.

Botswana registered a series of earthquakes in 2017 and 2018. The largest, measuring 6.5 magnitudes on the Richter scale, occurred in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve in April 2017.