Yesterday’s minor tremors may have rattled various localities around Gozo and Northern Malta, but the micro-earthquake may well turn out to be a cause for concern for those in support of a more permanent link between the two islands. 

Thoughts of an underwater tunnel have been hotly debated for quite a while, and recent developments have seen them move into very early production stages. While many rallied behind the project, many are those who still doubt the need for the proposed tunnel, and following yesterday's seismic activity, academic and politician Arnold Cassola took to Facebook to quote two geologists – Luan Cuffe and Pete Morris. Their comments, especially after the earthquake, added further fuel to the fire of tunnel sceptics. 

While recent recordings of earthquakes, including yesterday’s, fall short of the hazardous category, tremors double the average magnitude currently being experienced may cause some pretty serious structural damage 

We reached out to Associate Geoscience Professor Pauline Agius for her take. “Earthquakes are not becoming more frequent or more severe”, she says, explaining that “regions undergo natural periods of higher or lower seismic activity over the years. Moreover, better instrumentation means that we can now record smaller earthquakes which previously went undetected, hence the apparent increase in the number.”

Does that mean all is well for the tunnel? Speaking of the Gozo tunnel construction, Prof. Agius states, “I can say that the issue of seismic hazard was an important component of the preparatory study, and will be fully considered in the design.”  

Still, Arnold warns that the experts who were commissioned to carry out this study have stressed on the limitations of the preliminary study, and pointed out that more boreholes would need to be dug out to carry out further investigations into the islands' surrounding geology. We guess the jury is still out then.

This all adds on to the ongoing debate, and resonates with Arnold's original argument regarding the Gozo tunnel project. He is adamant that the tunnel is not a solution, and insists that the proposed plan "will not be decreasing the commute time for Gozitan workers in Malta because crossing the 14km tunnel would still involve approximately the same timeframe as a ferry crossing.”

While the earthquake might be interpreted by some as an ominous sign, it looks like we'll have to wait for more details to be released before picking up a rake.

Do you think yesterday’s earthquake was a sign?