Warning of possible aftershocks after powerful tremor in Gauteng
Residents in parts of Gauteng were woken up by a strong tremor, which hit large parts of the province in the early hours of Sunday morning.
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, the earthquake had a preliminary magnitude of 5.0 and struck about 10 kilometers below the surface.
Ekurhuleni Emergency Services personnel say they had to evacuate a pub in Bedfordview after the ceiling collapsed, but there were no fatalities or injuries reported.
It's believed the epicenter was in Boksburg on the East Rand.
The Council for Geosciences has urged residents to be vigilant as they cannot rule out the possibilities of aftershocks.
"Every earthquake in its nature is unique in its occurrence, so we cannot at this point, with definite certainty, say that aftershocks might occur. But we would implore the public to remain vigilant as this could be expected as we have seen from prior seismic events of this size," says the council's Acting Executive Manager Willem Meintjes.
Meintjes encouraged residents to record their experiences on a questionnaire available on its website.
"At this point, we do encourage the public to go onto the Council for Geosciences website to log their observations or their experiences of the earthquake. Then, in the time to come, we would do additional analysis on this data to determine the extent to which it was felt based on the information that was submitted."
