Was that an earthquake?
This was the question on many people’s lips last week (Wednesday 27 March), after an apparent earthquake.
The sound which resembles that of a blast echoed through Milnerton, Edgemead, Table View and Parklands on Wednesday. However the shudder and bang was audible in places further away including Kuils River, Rondebosch, Observatory and Stellenbosch.
Many people took to social media to determine what was the cause of the sound and shudder, with some speculating that it could be a quarry located nearby.
The Council for Geoscience (CGS) however issued a statement the following day in which it laid everyone’s worries to rest.
“The CGS can confirm that an earthquake occurred on Wednesday late afternoon 27 March, at 17:37 South African Standard Time.
“The analysis results show that the earthquake registered a local magnitude of approximately 1,4 as recorded by the South African Seismograph Network (SANSN).
“The epicentre was located along the Diep River in close proximity to Milnerton Rural area,” the CGS said.
The CGS is the custodian of the SANSN, which monitors seismic wave activities throughout the country. It said the public are encouraged to record their experiences using the available online questionnaire.
When TygerBurger approached some of the residents who experienced the earthquake, many said they thought it was an explosion at first.
Gareth James from Milnerton says his windows vibrated and car alarm went off.
“Imagine sitting in complete silence and then something like this happens. I froze for a while watching my windows while laying on the couch. After a few seconds, it was gone,” he says.
James adds he took a walk around his property after the earthquake to see what was damaged and saw his neighbours outside too.
“They were just as confused as me. I went on social media and read some people talking of an explosion at the quarry, only to find out later that it had indeed been an earthquake,” he says.
Another resident, Dorothy Schoeman from Flamingo Vlei, is looking for her cat after he ran away due to the earthquake.
“At the time he was outside, but always comes back in. I can only imagine how scared he must have been,” she says.
City unable to verify
On Wednesday the City of Cape Town’s disaster risk management centre (DRM) said in a statement that it was not able to verify reports of the apparent tremor or blast in the Milnerton area late that day.
At the time the CGS indicated that its systems did not detect any event in that area, the City said.
DRM made contact with one of the quarries in the area regarding the reports of a blast.
“They confirmed that their last blast was several weeks ago, and that none of the other quarries in the vicinity had any blast events either.
“We also checked in with various emergency services and none have received calls related to a tremor, or any injuries resulting from such an incident,” the DRM said.
For live updates on earthquakes visit www.geoscience.org.za
