‘Epicentre in Soweto’: Joburg hit by 2.77 magnitude earthquake

Preliminary results found earth tremor on Tuesday night was an earthquake, but public is urged to look out for false reports on earthquake forecasting

18 December 2024 - 13:56
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The Council for Geoscience confirmed that the tremor felt in Johannesburg on Tuesday was an earthquake.
The Council for Geoscience confirmed that the tremor felt in Johannesburg on Tuesday was an earthquake.
Image: 123RF/vchalup/ File photo

The Council for Geoscience (CGS) confirms that the earth tremor felt across parts of Johannesburg on Tuesday was indeed an earthquake.

Johannesburg residents took to social media on Tuesday night after feeling an earth tremor in various parts of the city.

CGS said the tremor occurred at about 8.39pm, and preliminary results show that the earthquake registered a local magnitude of about 2.77, as recorded by the SA Seismograph Network (SANSN).

“The epicentre was located about 2km south of Slovoville in Soweto. The public is encouraged to record their experiences using the available online questionnaire,” said CGS spokesperson Mahlatse Mononela.

The City of Johannesburg’s emergency management services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi confirmed that no injuries or damages were reported due to the earth tremor. He said the tremor was experienced in Roodepoort, Soweto and surrounding areas.

Meanwhile, the CGS also urged the public to be cautious and exercise sound judgment when circulating news after reports emerged predicting more earthquakes in the country during the festive season.

An article by Earthquake News Everyday predicted that earthquakes of magnitudes ranging between 6.0 and 8.0 will be experienced in regions about the Indian and Pacific oceans and surrounding countries, including South Africa.

However, CGS chief scientist Dr Eldridge Kgaswane said scientists could not predict the exact time, location and magnitude of individual earthquakes with high accuracy as claimed. “Earthquake forecasting — which estimates the probability of earthquakes occurring in a region over a period of time — is possible but not precise,” he said last week.

“The prediction of a strong earthquake... within a specific time frame... is unsubstantiated and not based on any scientifically recognised earthquake forecasting method.”

TimesLIVE


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