Hundreds of families in Moi Ndabi, Naivasha are a worried lot after another fault line appeared cutting off roads and some of their farms sunk into the ground.
Kamanu Gathariki, area MCA on Monday said many homes and farms between Kipkonyo Primary School and Tangi Tatu village have been affected.
“The fault line is literally swallowing up farms and roads. Several houses could go the same way if the ongoing rains continue,” Gathariki told the Star.
Most roads in the ward have been cut off according to the MCA. “Currently, all the major roads in this ward are impassable due to the rains. The situation has been made worse by the developing fault line,” he said.
Moi Ndabi residents are the latest casualties of the 2km fault line that first started at Suswa area along the Narok-Mai Mahiu highway a month ago.
Government has urged the locals of the area to move to safer grounds as deep fissures continue to develop as a result of ongoing heavy rains pounding the area.
Naivasha assistant sub-county commissioner Joseph Opondo said they are working to help the affected families.
“There is a fault line developing in Moi Ndabi and we are working with the county government to assist the affected families,” said Opondo.
He called on area residents to be cautious especially due to the ongoing heavy rains.
“The ongoing rains have left a trail of destruction in this area and this could worsen in the coming days.”
The deep fissures were first seen at Suswa in what geologist say marks the beginning of Rift Valley split.
Along the Mai-Mahiu-Narok highway-at the intersection of Mai-mahiu and Narok, what was once an expansive land for farming; was the first recipient of the split said to be the beginning in the Rift Valley. The tear is deep-upto 50 meters and 20 meters wide.
Geologists say this is just one of the spots out of, probably hundreds of others in the Great Rift Valley, which runs from the Horn of Africa-Somalia all the way to Mozambique.
In about the next 50 million years, Kenya, Somali, Tanzania and half of Ethiopia could split from African to form a new continent referred to as the Somali Plate.