HIGH-rise buildings emptied and frightened office workers hurried home early after earth tremors struck Nairobi for a fifth day.
The Government urged citizens not to panic as geologists blamed the successive quakes on stirrings underneath God`s Mountain, an active volcano 240km southwest of Nairobi in Tanzania.
Some residents rushed out of their houses still dressed in pyjamas on a false rumour that an earthquake was imminent.
The tremors, which have been striking since Saturday, have ranged in intensity from 4.4 and 6.0 on the Richter scale, according to the US Geological Survey.
“Yesterday I felt them, today I felt them. These tremors are worrying,” Susan Munyi, a secretary, told Reuters.
"I am scared of going near the buildings."
At least three sustained tremors struck the city of three million today.
Many workers in Kenya`s high-rise office buildings were allowed to go home early.
The tremors this week have been felt as far away as Rwanda.
Tanzanian authorities reported no damage.
Nairobi was relatively safe, geologists said, because of its distance from the epicentre in the Tanzanian wilderness.
“What we have experienced here this week has been strange because we have more then one tremor hitting the nation. What we are feeling are the ripples,” Eliud Mathu, head of the University of Nairobi`s geology department saidt.
His colleague, Norbert Opiyo Aketch, added: “There is no need to panic.”
The last time a major earthquake struck east Africa was in December 2005. It registered 6.8 on the Richter scale and sent workers scrambling out of buildings.
Nairobi lies along the Great Rift Valley, which owes its rugged beauty to epochs of volcanic and tectonic activity and which still remains geologically active.
God`s Mountain
Mr Mathu said God`s Mountain, or Ol Donyo Lengai in the language of Kenya`s Maasai tribe, might erupt. Its last major eruption was in 1966 and lava flowed from it in 1988.
Days of jokes about the tremors, which gently shook buildings and left people feeling dizzy, soon gave way to fear as the ground kept shaking overnight in Nairobi.
By early this morning, some residents in an upmarket Nairobi area scurried out of their homes in pyjamas after hearing a rumour that American citizens had been told to evacuate and a quake was predicted to strike within hours.
The US embassy denied any evacuation order had been given.
“We need to be cautious because there are those who are very keen in spreading alarmist statements,” Mr Mathu said.
Nobody in the world can predict the next earthquake will happen in the next two hours.
Not even the Americans.
The Government quickly moved to stop the panic, telling Kenyans to remain calm and to check emergency plans for their buildings.
But it strongly denied giving any evacuation orders or forecast of a major quake.
“The Government did not issue any alerts whatsoever,” government spokesman Alfred Mutua said.
"We have not asked any person to evacuate any building."
However, Mr Aketch said Nairobi would be in bad shape should the epicentre move to the capital, which has suffered a rash of building collapses owing to shoddy construction.
“Most of the buildings are not built to withstand any earthquakes,” the geologist said.
"They are not build to sway. If it was under us it would be disastrous."
