The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) has called for calm following reports of yet another earthquake in the province in just two days.
Parts of Durban and Lesotho experienced yet another earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 5.1 on Sunday.
This quake comes hours after the first one which was experienced on Saturday between 2pm and 3pm in parts of Durban, Lesotho and Swaziland which was estimated to have a magnitude of 5.0.
On Saturday afternoon, an earthquake with a magnitude of 4.6 was recorded, near Dundee in KwaZulu-Natal.
The KZN provincial government said on Sunday it was calling in experts to understand the “minor quakes” which have reportedly shaken the province over the last two days.
In a statement Sihle Zikalala, the MEC for Cogta said they had noted reports by the public and several agencies about the earthquakes.
“The department has established contact with the council for Geoscience which is a legislated body to determine the extent of tremors and potential impacts in the affected areas,” said Zikalala.
“The department is liaising with all disaster management teams in the districts to assess whether there was any damage to infrastructure. So far, no injuries or fatalities have been reported,” Zikalala added.
On its website, the Council for Geoscience recorded that both of the tremors reported in KwaZulu-Natal region on Saturday and Sunday had a magnitude of 3.9, making them among the strongest which have been reported in months.
Speaking on Enca on Saturday, Eldridge Kgaswane explained why there was not an immediate need for panic.
“We are on an intra-plate stress zone, meaning that we are on a stable continental region. We don’t have a history of violence seismic occurrences in this country. We do have occasional earthquakes…There isn’t much to worry about,” Kgaswane said.
Source: The Witness, The South African, Times Live IOL, Image from Twitter: @AlgoaFMNews