The Council for Geoscience (CGS) can confirm that an earth tremor occurred roughly 72 km southwest of Durban on 31 October 2019 at 13:19. The earth tremor registered a preliminary 3.7 on the local magnitude scale as recorded by the South African Seismograph Network. Although the tremor could be felt around the southwest of Durban and areas further north, in Pietermaritzburg, its epicentre has been located in an area around the regional route R612, near Sawoti Police Station in Braemar.
The CGS can further confirm that the earth tremor is in no way related to the one that occurred in the Philippines earlier today. Furthermore, the CGS would like to assure the South African public that there is no cause for panic as earthquakes are a rare occurrence in that affected area; this said, the nature of earthquakes cannot be predicted.
The CGS is the custodian of the South African National Seismograph Network, which monitors seismic wave activities throughout the country. More details will be shared in due course to confirm the basis of the seismic event upon iterative review of the preliminary data by our Seismologists. For live updates, please click here.
For media enquiries, please contact Ms. Mahlatse Mononela, Manager: Marketing & Communication, by email: mmononela@geoscience.org.za Tel: 012 841 1225.
