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Article: Making the earth rumble: the Lesotho-South African water connection.
- Article from:
- Multinational Monitor
- Article date:
- May 1, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Essential Information, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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MAPELENG, LESOTHO - Small earthquakes have been rumbling in recent months through the Maluti Mountains in the small landlocked nation of Lesotho, which is entirely surrounded by South Africa. Mountain villages now live in fear of the ongoing earth tremors, such as the one that left a crack through the middle of the village of Mapeleng, and damaged many traditional stone-built rondavels (round houses).
"For 60 years we lived comfortably here, until October 1995. My family is sitting on a crevice," says a Mapeleng villager. "When I ask, I am told the foundations to my huts are weak. Yet for 60 years those huts stood strong. I fear that one day when the tremors attack, ...