Earthquake Hits Osun State Nigeria

Earthquake Hits Osun State Nigeria – Ikeji Ile Villagers Narrate Ordeal Olobeide, a village in Ikeji- Ile, Osun State was recently hit by an explosion that sent old and young scampering to safety. Two months after residents of the rocky community are yet to get over the scare. Taiwo Abiodun reports. The cock had just crowed at 3 o’clock on September 23, a Monday. The farmers and the traders who mainly dominate this town knew at once that they should be getting ready to set out for the day’s work. Seconds later came a massive explosion. The earth shook, the houses vibrated. No one could have missed the impact. By now everyone had woken up, asking the nearest person what was happening. There was no precise answer, only gesticulations that indicated nothing. In twos and threes, the panicked residents stepped out of their houses to ascertain what had happened. What they saw next would only confuse them and terrify them the more: water gushing from the top of the rocks and cascading down. Trees were uprooted and flung away, some over 100 meters. Food and cash crops were not spared. There was no need for further probing; the race for survival had begun. Some fled into the bush: some just kept running, to nowhere in particular. Some were practically unclad. Mothers reached for their children, all screaming and running at the same time. The explosion had blasted off the top of the rock, leaving a huge opening through which the water gushed out. The base of the rock was littered with gravel. Olobeide village has 12 mud houses and about 200 inhabitants who are chiefly farmers. It is nearly three kilometers from Ikeji- Ile. The town is surrounded by rocks which seem to be competing for space with one another. A resident, Pa Oladiti Isaiah Ajayi, said of the explosion:”It was in the early morning around 3.00 am on September 23 when we heard a deafening explosion that sounded:’graagra gbagbagba gborogodo gba, ya, ya, ya, yooo.’ It was terrible, it woke us all up! “And then we heard the sound of flood rushing down on us. We started running helter-skelter. In the morning we all went to look round but lo and behold there was a wide range of a big gulf with uprooted trees flung away.”