Johannesburg - Hundreds of South Africans, especially in parts of Ekurhuleni, Joburg and Pretoria, were woken up by a massive earthquake on Sunday morning.
Dogs were heard barking and howling as if to communicate with the world.
The Council of Geosciences (CGS) confirmed that an earthquake occurred on Sunday at around 2:38am.
“The earthquake registered a local magnitude of approximately 4.4 as recorded by the South African Seismograph Network (SANSN). The epicentre was located in the Bokbsurg area, a few kilometres outside East Rand Proprietary Mine (ERPM), in the East Rand of Joburg,” the CGS confirmed.
The council further encouraged the public to record their experiences using the CGS’ online questionnaire.
People have been warned to stay away from any damaged property for safety. It is well known that after an earthquake, it is likely to be followed by an aftershock.
One must also remember that Ekurhuleni, Joburg and most of its parts are mining-induced; the areas have a long history of mining activities such as hood and other minerals, and this is not the first time seismic events have occurred.
A number of South Africans took to social media to get confirmation that this was indeed a tremor and not a nightmare.
One of those was Xabiso Matewu, an engineer. In his Twitter timeline, he said South Africa cannot afford anything above 6:0 in Gauteng.
“South Africa simply cannot afford anything above 6.0 in Gauteng. This government simply does not have the capacity for a disaster management effort of that scale. Turkey in Feb registered around 7.8 #Earthquake,” wrote Matewu.
He attached a diagram that showed various magnitude scales.
South Africans narrated stories of their experience on Twitter, but a number of them made fun of the incident; they joked about the 1ten-past-four indlu iyawa (house is falling), something that trended after Nhlanhla Lux claimed that his house was attacked with bombs earlier this year, the day when the EFF had a planned shutdown.
Others suspected that Russia might have launched its missiles.
Twitter user Rosemary Puwe wrote “I knew I’d find an explanation online; I thought I was going crazy and would’ve not been able to explain; now I can’t sleep! #earthquake”
Another user, going by the name BlakLivesMatter, wrote: “I thought Bra Putin has landed.”
A video supplied on Twitter also showed street lights shaking; at this point, it is not sure which part of Gauteng the video was taken from.
In another video shared by Gauteng Weather, the ground also showed shaking for a long period of time.
Professor Jasper Knight of Wits University’s School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, said earthquakes in South Africa were not a rare occurrence amid two incidents of seismic activity in KwaZulu-Natal in November last year.
The Star