Cape Town was hit by an earthquake on Saturday night — but 'no need to panic'

27 September 2020 - 09:50 By matthew savides
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Cape Town was hit by a 2.5 magnitude earthquake on Saturday night, the SA Council of Geoscience confirmed.
Cape Town was hit by a 2.5 magnitude earthquake on Saturday night, the SA Council of Geoscience confirmed.
Image: 123rf/ Jerry Rainey

If you felt the earth shake in Cape Town on Saturday night, you weren't imagining it: the city was hit by a mild tremor.

SA's Council for Geoscience (CGS) said in a statement that the SA Seismograph Network picked up a 2.5 magnitude quake in the Mother City at 8.41pm.

This however did not appear to be related to a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit about 90 minutes earlier about 1,600km from SA's southern coastline, at a depth of 10km, according to the US Geological Survey.

“Furthermore, there has been no tsunami warning issued by the Indian Ocean warning system and it is on this basis that the CGS would like to assure the public that there is no eminent threat to the affected area, so no cause for panic,” said the council's spokesperson, Mahlatse Mononela.

There were claims on Twitter that there were at least two more tremors on Sunday morning, but the reach and strength of these could not be independently confirmed.

 

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