Rifts

Earthweek, August 22, 1998
New Rift in Rift Valley

A 2.5 mile-long crack in the earth has opened up at Adami Tulu, about 105 miles south of Addis Ababa, according to the Ethiopian News Agency. The report quoted Adugna Urgessa, vice chairman of the east Shoa District, as saying that the crack resulted from a receding earth and is 16 feet wide and 40 feet deep. Adugna said the depression has been gradually growing southward in the direction of lakes Abiyata and Shala, two in a chain of lakes that stretch down the famed Great Rift Valley. Officials fear that if the crack widens and joins the lakes, it could result in the flooding of some agricultural areas.