An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.4 struck Chipinge and the surrounding areas at around 11:30 PM on Sunday.
Chipinge District meteorological officer Lydia Masengu on Monday confirmed the occurrence of the earth tremor to The Manica Post.
Masengu said that the epicentre is in Zimbabwe close to the Mozambique border near the Mt Selinda area. She said:
I confirm that a tremor occurred last night. The preliminary location shows that the earthquake occurred at Latitude -20.494 and longitude 32.632 and the magnitude was determined to be 4.4.
It was widely felt in Chipinge and the surrounding area and the local people called our offices to enquire about the tremor.
The epicentre is the point on the earth’s surface vertically above the focus of an earthquake.
Masengu said the Zimbabwe-Mozambique eastern border area shows high earthquake activity.
Most of the earthquakes in the area are a result of plate tectonics attributed to the East African Rift System which extends into Mozambique.