Scientist says two weekend earthquakes in KZN a coincidence
Seismologists have
confirmed that KZN has been rocked by another 3.9 magnitude earthquake less
than 24-hours after the first one struck on Saturday.
The Council for GeoScience says that yesterday's temblor was felt at 9:29 in the morning with the epicentre approximately 40 kilometres north of Kokstad in the Mnkangala region.
"There could be things like if there's been too much flooding or too much rain, water movements do contribute. If it has been raining quite persistently over the past few days, that could probably be the reason or maybe there has been some flooding in the area. I don't have the full information as yet."
Eldridge Kgaswane, the institution's chief scientist, explains that the quakes did not occur on the same geological faults.
Saturday's 3.9 magnitude temblor struck some 40 kilometres east of Greytown and 30 kilometres east of the Tugela Ferry.
People in and around Durban and Pietermaritzburg felt the ground shake in the afternoon at around 14:30.
He says the timing of the two earthquakes was a coincidence.
"Well, even if we do have earthquakes in terms of time - being quite close in sequence - you don't necessarily get the same magnitude. I must say this is a coincidence that we have the same magnitude as the one yesterday."
Meanwhile, people in parts of the province say they were caught off guard when the first quake struck.
This man says he thought he heard thunder, "But a few seconds later I realised it wasn't thunder, it was the roof rattling a bit and the bed shaking."
This woman says it came out of nowhere. "We felt the ground vibrate for a few seconds. I had a glass of water on the side table next to me and I noticed it was shaking for a few seconds."
Another man says he felt his bed move and almost fell out. "I heard some sheets in the ceiling moving and that's when I realised it was a tremor."
