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Blantyre.- a 5,6 magnitude earthquake has hit Nsanje District. The tremor, reportedly the strongest since the sequence of earthquakes that struck Karonga District in 2009, lasted for about 10 seconds. According to information published by US Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Information, the epicentre is in Mozambique, just 25km from Nsanje.
It lasted for about 15 seconds.

Meanwhile, there is no official statement from the Malawi Government with regards to the damage that might have been caused by the earthquake.

The tremor has been felt in different parts of Malawi, to as far as Blantyre and Zomba, which are located about 115km and 150km from the epicentre.

Malawi lies in the great East African Rift System (EARS), a 3000km long Cenozoic age continental rift extending from the Afar Triple Junction between the horn of Africa and the Middle East, to western Mozambique.

It is the only rift system in the world that is active on a continent-wide scale, providing geologists with a view of how continental rifts develop over time into oceanic spreading centres like the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. – Malawi24.