Earthquake rocks Mozambique, Zimbabwe

Earthquake rocks Mozambique, Zimbabwe

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By Cris Chinaka

A STRONG earthquake rocked large parts of Mozambique and Zimbabwe on Thursday, sending people into the streets as far away as Harare and Maputo, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Web site said the quake, which struck just after midnight (2200 GMT on Wdnesday), measured an estimated 7.5 and was centred in northern Mozambique, an area not known for dangerous seismic activity.

In Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, panic-stricken apartment dwellers poured into the streets but a spokesman for the fire and ambulance service said they had received no emergency calls.

In the city of Mutare, about 270 km (167.8 miles) to the west close to the Mozambique border, residents said the earthquake jolted houses and apartment buildings but did not appear to have caused widespread damage.

"It sounded like an explosion, but I haven't heard of any casualties," said a local journalist contacted by telephone.

Mutare, a city of about one million in Zimbabwe's mountainous Eastern Highlands, is where President Robert Mugabe is due to hold a major celebration on Saturday to mark his 82nd birthday.

Residents of Mozambique's capital Maputo -- about 1,000 km (621.4 miles) south of the quake's epicentre -- also took to the streets after the tremor, the first many could remember in the coastal city.

Mozambique state radio issued a brief report saying the quake was centred near Estungabera in northern Manica province -- a largely rural area near the Zimbabwe border.

It said the tremor was felt over large parts of the country, but did not give any reports of damage or injuries. Police and emergency services officials were not immediately available for comment.

"An earthquake of this size shakes the ground for quite a distance away from its epicentre so we're expecting that there is damage from this earthquake," said William Leith, a USGS earthquake specialist.

"It's a significant and unexpected earthquake in this region," he said by telephone from the USGS headquarters in Reston, Virginia. "We'll expect aftershocks from an earthquake this large." - Reuters

(Additional reporting by Mateus Chale in Maputo)
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