A spokeswoman for the Council of Geoscience confirmed that it was an earthquake which Milnerton residents felt last Wednesday.
“An earthquake occurred on Wednesday late afternoon, March 27 at 7.37pm. The analysis results show that the earthquake registered a local magnitude of approximately 1.4, as recorded by the South African Seismograph Network (SANSN),” said Mahlatse Monolela.
Ms Monolela said the epicentre was located to have been along Diep River in close proximity to the Milnerton rural area.
She said the public is encouraged to record their experiences using the available online questionnaire that can be accessed on www.geoscience.org.za
Milnerton residents heard what sounded like an explosion.
The City of Cape Town said that it had fielded enquiries about the loud bang.
Spokeswoman for Disaster Risk Management, Charlotte Powell, said that at the time that there were unverified reports of an apparent tremor or blast in the Milnerton area.
“We also made contact with one of the quarries in the area regarding the reports of the blast. They confirmed that their last blast was several weeks ago, and that none of the other quarries in the vicinity had any blast events either,” she said.
A resident, John Mluleki, from Royal Ascot said that he was sitting on his stoep when he heard the loud bang.
“I don’t want to lie, it really scared me. Because I know we have a power plant and a refinery not so far from us. I was convinced that the blast came from one of the two. I got up quickly from my stoep and just went inside. I was just sitting there waiting for another blast or something,” he said.
