Monster SA quake shakes Botswana :: Mmegi Online

A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck the gold mining town of Orkney in North West Province, South Africa midday yesterday, killing one man, trapping miners and sending powerful ripples throughout southern Botswana. At about 1230 hours, tremors hit Lobatse and later Gaborone, weakening as they reached further into the country, with multiple reports of workers either evacuating orderly or fleeing their offices in panic.

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.

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