‘No need to panic’, says Geoscience council after five tremors in one day

There were a total of five tremors in South Africa on Thursday, with one, registering a 2.8 magnitude, felt along the West Rand.

National Council for Geosciences spokesperson Mahlatse Mononela said there was no need to panic, as this was normal activity.

She said the West Rand tremor registered most strongly within a 5km radius south east of Randfontein on locally based instruments, and was also picked up on national instruments.

The council was still collating data on whether it affected mines or was mining-related. The council registered another four:

• A 2.1 near Emalahleni at 4:53pm
• A 2.6 near Emalehleni at 3:39pm
• A 2.7 near Emalahleni at 1:26pm
• A 2.7 near Odendaalsrus at 2:26am

Mononela explained that the tremors were not unusual, especially the one on the West Rand. She said many were not felt because of the rockier terrain.

The list of seismic events was available on their website and showed several since the ones felt in Cape Town on Saturday and Sunday.

The council confirmed its earlier finding that the Cape Town seismic activity was not related to a bigger earthquake at sea on Saturday night.

Monomela said there was no unusual uptick in these events, and if it seems as though there were more, it was because people were becoming more aware of their occurrence daily around the world.

“There is no need to panic,” she said.

Meanwhile, an earthquake swarm which began on Wednesday, south-east of the Salton Sea in California, produced 240 earthquakes between the San Andreas Fault in the north and the Imperial Fault to the south, according to a US geological survey report.

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