By Eniola Olatunji
The 23rd U20 Men’s football tournament that started in Egypt last Sunday with Nigeria and other eleven African nations participating is threatened by a possible earthquake.
The tournament on Monday concluded the second round of the group stages for groups A and B and Group C is expected to be concluded on Tuesday in the land of Pharaoh.
The championships is to run from 19th February to 11th March 2023 at three venues namely the 75,000 capacity Cairo International Stadium; the 22,000 capacity Suez Canal stadium in Ismailia and the 20,000-capacity stadium in Alexandria all close to Europe where the earthquake is currently devastating.
There were confirmed but reportedly insignificant earth movements in both Cairo and Alexandria in the last 24 hours as at 9 pm GMT when this report is being filed.
Seismic hazards in Egypt are highest around the southern end of the Gulf of Suez, the Northern Red Sea and around the Gulf of Aqaba, the location of the active plate boundaries.
The organizers of the Youth Championship, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Egyptian Government were yet to react to reports of occurrences in Egypt between Sunday and Monday. The Nigerian Government whose players and officials are in Egypt has not reacted too.
Iraqi Professor of Geology, Salah Mohammed Awad of the College of Sciences at the University of Baghdad on Sunday warned that more devastating earthquakes were coming imputed to be a reference to the earthquake in Turkey, Syria and other places which has claimed over 400 people including a Ghanaian International, Atsu .
Unfortunately, another earthquake of 6..4 magnitude was reported in Southern Turkey on Monday.
Prof. Awad had said, “the earth voltage is expected to increase on February 27th and 28th as a result of the planets and the Moon approaching the earth which will aggravate more earthquakes.”
Another Professor of Earthquakes at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Salah Al-Hadidy said that “no country in the world is immune from earthquake as everyday earthquakes are recorded in various parts of the world including Egypt , but are weak in strength.”
The Championship in Egypt is expected t produce four teams that will represent Africa at the U20 world cup in Indonesia from 20th May to 11th June 2023.
Report by Eniola Olatunji.
Eniola is a Journalist from Nigeria with over 45 years’ experience.
He is the CEO oof Patmos Media Line, an online News Media.
