Residents recall the morning the earth moved

Like riding in a bus or the rumbling of a truck pulling into a loading bay. This is how some Cape Town residents have described the tremors which hit the Western Cape early on Sunday morning.

The seismic activity took place about 400 kilometres from Cape Town, near a small town called Brandvlei in the Northern Cape.

Council for GeoScience communications manager Mahlatse Mononela told Diamond Fields Advertiser, a sister publication of this one, that the earthquake happened on December 22 at around 2.51am and 5.28am.

“The South African Seismograph Network recorded preliminary results that show that the earthquake registered an aftershock of 5.3 and a local magnitude of 2.9. There were reports of aftershocks that were felt in other parts of the country which are currently being analysed,” she told the DFA.

Since 2020, Cape Town has experienced six tremors of magnitudes between 2 and 3.9.

Heideveld resident Rushin Morton, who works in a factory in Salt River had just finished his shift in the early hours of the morning when he felt the earth moving.

“I actually thought a truck was pulling up in delivery, but when I went to the bay, nothing was there. But there was a stack of boxes scattered on the floor and I questioned how that landed there,” Mr Morton explained.

He described a shaking feeling in the walls and floor, similar to that felt when a large truck drives by.

Robyn Kessler, from Rondebosch, said she regularly wakes up during the early hours of the morning, but this time, her experience was slightly different.

“I understand the epicenter was in the Northern Cape at 2.51 on Sunday morning. I regularly wake up around 3am, so later I was able to make the connection between my bed shaking three times in 10 seconds, and the earthquake aftershocks,” she said.

“It was five past three when I got up.”

Ashieq Collins had just returned to his Observatory home after a long day at work when he felt the shaking.

“I walked through the door and suddenly the stuff started rattling, but I was not convinced, so I stopped dead in my tracks and put my ear to the ground,” he said.

“There wasn't really a sound, just vibrations. If you were in dreamland, would have been hard for you to pick up and you would have felt like you riding in a bus.”

According to the CGS, the difference between an earthquake and an earth tremor lies in the magnitude of the event. In the context of South Africa, a seismic event with a magnitude lower than 4.0 is considered a tremor.

Interesting fact about earthquakes in South Africa

South Africa’s strongest recorded earthquake hit Tulbagh on 29 September in 1969, ultimately killing 12 people. The 6.3-magnitude quake was felt throughout the towns of Ceres, Tulbagh, Wolseley and Prince Alfred Hamlet. There was also significant damage in Porterville and Worcester and the villages of Gouda, Saron and Hermon.

There were a series of aftershocks: the largest of which occurred nearly six months later and had a magnitude of 5.7. The Tulbagh quake was stronger than the one which destroyed a local Milnerton farm in 1809.

South Africa’s second largest recorded earthquake happened near Orkney in the North West on 5 August 2014, and measured 5.5. It lasted around 90 seconds and was felt in parts of Botswana and Durban.

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