It has been reported that the relocation of communities living around the Kesem Dam area is underway.
The command post established in the Awash Fentale district, where the Kesem Dam is located, stated that pastoralist communities residing in the dam's vicinity are being relocated.
Binyam Wubeshet, a representative of the Kesem Dam administration and a construction consultant engineer, explained that the dam, built with large rocks and sand to withstand earthquakes, can resist tremors up to a magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale. He added that construction began in 1997 and it became operational in 2012. He also stated that so far, there is no threat to the dam due to the earthquake.
Ahmed Ibrahim, the coordinator of the zone's command post, said that pastoralists living downstream of the dam are being relocated and provided with humanitarian assistance.
The Kesem Dam has a capacity of 500 million cubic meters of water and is 94 meters high. It's also noted that the dam has the potential to irrigate over 20,000 hectares of farmland.