Monster SA quake shakes Botswana
Mbongeni Mguni | Wednesday August 6, 2014 17:17
Mmegi’s three-storey building in the Central Business District was evacuated just before 1300hrs as windows and desks shook from the impact nearly 315 kilometres away in South Africa. “Felt it in Gaborone West Phase 1 Industrial, but no damage caused nor heard of,” tweeted MmegiOnline reader, David Lobbie, while others filed in similar reports.
At the epicentre in Orkney, several South African media reported that one man died when the wall of a disused mining building fell on him, while three others were injured at a training centre at a different mine, after a roof collapsed. Managers in the area evacuated mineworkers from shafts and other operations as the one-minute long earthquake ripped through the town of 13, 400 residents.
Locally, geological experts from the Lobatse-based Department of Geological Survey were reportedly out in the field inspecting their detectors and stations for readings in order to compile reports for the region and the Ministry.
“All of them are out of the office getting readings from the detectors and they are still investigating,” a DGS official said, when reached for comment. A local geologist told Mmegi that far from the widely held view that earthquakes were not an issue in Botswana, the country was not completely insulated from the natural phenomena, particularly in the Okavango Delta which sits on a major fault.
“We are sitting on an area that is active and yesterday’s tremors are not surprising,” he said.
“The DGS has stations across Botswana and particularly in the Okavango area which lies on a fault that is part of the East Africa Rift system.
“Yesterday’s event was pretty significant and the DGS’ geologists will feed local readings onto the regional database and also compile a report for the Ministry.”
A June 2012 DGS report made available to Mmegi yesterday indicates that mining, engineering and construction companies have increasingly requested information on Botswana’s seismic risks in recent years.