Under a makeshift shelter, Moussa Akele kills time chewing the stimulant khat, wondering where his family will get its next meal after fleeing a series of earthquakes that have shaken several regions of Ethiopia.

The 40-year-old was at home in Kabanna in the Afar region, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) northeast of the capital Addis Ababa, when an earthquake struck in late December.

"It caused widespread panic and destroyed our houses. People were terrified," he said.

Ethiopia's Rift Valley is one of the most seismically active regions in the world.

For several weeks, frequent tremors, including one measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale, have been shaking the rural regions of Afar and Oromia.

There are fears they could cause a major dam to collapse or lead to the eruption of a volcano, Mount Dofan, so the authorities have evacuated tens of thousands of people.

Akele, who worked in a sugar factory, found refuge with his family of about 20 km from Kabanna. Like several thousand others, they now live in a tent pitched in the middle of arid vegetation.

"We were evacuated from our good and peaceful life and are now living in survival mode," he said.

Trucks loaded with water and food arrive regularly, "but there are a lot of people and it's not enough," he added.

Most of the displaced are pastoralists, who had to leave their livestock behind.

Under a blazing sun and amid dust clouds caused by the trucks, several dozen women and children queue with jerry cans. Fights occasionally break out in the desperation.

'Fled for our lives'

Assea Ali didn't have time to take anything with her.

"We fled for our lives," said the 26-year-old mother of two.

"This is the condition we are living in now," she added, pointing to a small tent and sighing: "I have no hope."

On a small hill overlooking the camp, a health centre has been set up by local authorities.

Several women rush in as soon as it opens, most to weigh their young children.

"Until the government and support agencies like UNICEF or the World Health Organisation intervene, we are helping people with the resources we have," said Abokar Hassan, 24, a health response officer.

He estimates between 200 and 300 people see him each day, mainly to prevent the spread of cholera.

According to the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Ethiopian authorities have evacuated more than 60,000 people living in high-risk areas, including some near a dam.

"A comprehensive humanitarian response is under way, but significant gaps remain," OCHA said in a statement on Saturday.

The region is known to be a "volcanic, tectonic zone", Cecile Doubre, a seismologist at the Strasbourg School and Observatory of Earth Sciences and a specialist in Afar, told AFP.

"There has been no eruption yet, but there is a spread of magma under the earth's crust, between zero and 15 km. It is spreading in a large fissure, about 50 km long," she added. "It's a major geological event."

Some sections of the road bear the scars of seismic activity, with the track to Kabanna partially collapsed.

In the city, there is a heavy silence, broken only by the lowing of oxen wandering the deserted streets amid several destroyed houses and businesses.

Despite the situation, Akele remains hopeful.

"The fear and uncertainty we are experiencing now are temporary, and we must not let them make us despair," he said.

AFP

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