Cape Town tremors: ‘It’s a good thing that people are aware of them’

The Council for GeoSciences says the two tremors that occurred in Cape Town recently is nothing new and it is a good thing that people are becoming aware of them.

The council released a questionnaire asking people for their experience of the tremors after Cape Town experienced two on Saturday.

Council of GeoSciences acting spokesperson Mahlako Mathabatha said the purpose of the questionnaire was to collect information from the public on any ground shaking they might have experienced and to get reports of damage in order for them to follow up on assessment studies on the ground.

“The information also helps us in locating the epicentre accurately and taking soil samples for analysis,” she added.

The tremor was felt around the Western Cape on Saturday and was caused by a 2.5 magnitude earthquake roughly 10km north of Malmesbury; while the second earthquake was registered at around 09:12 on Sunday.

However, scientist Mahlatse Mononela told News24 that tremors were not unusual.

“Tremors are not unusual, it’s just a pity that in Cape Town it happened one after the other,” said Mononela.

“People are becoming more aware of tremors and that’s a good thing.”

She said that the more people understood tremors, the less they would panic, especially over tremors that were of a magnitude that’s less than 3.

Mononela said they received reports from people saying the tremors might have been caused by the newly-mapped Table Bay fault line. However, she denied the allegations, saying the Table Bay fault was nothing new.

The questionnaire can be accessed at https://geoscience.org.za/index.php/questionaire-english.

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