No injuries or damages after 2.5 magnitude ‘earthquake’ hits Gauteng

There were no injuries reported after a 2.5 magnitude earthquake struck several parts of Johannesburg and the West Rand.

The Council for Geoscience (CGS) confirmed the 2.5 quake occurred late on Wednesday 04 October at around 9.24pm.

CGS spokesperson Mahlatse Mononela urged the public to record their experiences of the earthquake.

“The earthquake registered a local magnitude of approximately 2.5 as recorded by the South African Seismograph Network (SANSN). The epicentre was located south of Johannesburg, west of Doornkop, Soweto.”

Gauteng earthquakes

This is not the first time that an earthquake has hit Gauteng.

In August, the CGS confirmed a 2.7 magnitude tremor rocked several areas on the West Rand, including Johannesburg.

Various communities also felt the ground shake, including in Soweto, Krugersdorp and Roodepoort, among other areas.

ALSO READ: Another tremor felt in parts of Joburg

In June 2023, South Africans were awoken by a powerful 4.4 magnitude earthquake, which was felt across large parts of Gauteng.

The quake hit the south of Boksburg at approximately 2.38am early on Sunday morning, causing homes and buildings to shake.

Just two weeks later, on 29 June, Johannesburg residents were shaken awake by a 2.9 magnitude quake originating in Soweto.

The big one

While a number of earthquakes have been recorded in Gauteng, the Head of the Archaeology and Geography at Wits University, Professor Gillian Drennan told The Citizen in June it was very difficult to predict if South Africa will experience a major earthquake with catastrophic consequences.

“We can’t predict. There are multiple reasons for an earthquake. Are we going to see a huge one like the one that destroyed half of Japan? We are not on a plate boundary so we are not going to see that kind of activity.

“But we are moving support underground either because of mining or getting water from underground. So when the earth readjusts, it collapses the ground to close up the empty space. That’s how it does it,” she said.

ALSO READ: Soweto earthquake a result of earth ‘readjusting itself’ − expert