August 5, 2014 Earthquake: Orkney, South Africa

One person killed and 17 injured at Orkney. Felt (VI) at Klerksdorp; (V) at Welkom; (IV) at Benoni, Brits, Centurion, Johannesburg, Kroonstad, Krugersdorp, Potchefstroom, Pretoria, Rustenburg, Sasolburg, Soweto, Tembisa and Vanderbijlpark. Felt widely in central, eastern and southern South Africa. Felt (IV) at Gaborone, Botswana. Also felt at Maokane, Mochudi and Molepolole. Felt (II) at Maputo, Mozambique. Felt at Mafeteng and Maseru, Lesotho. Klerksdorp, North West, South Africa - CDI: 7; Carltonville, Gauteng, South Africa - CDI: 6; Stilfontein, North West, South Africa - CDI: 6; Viljoenskroon, Free State, South Africa - CDI: 5; Kimberley, Northern Cape, South Africa - CDI: 5 (reference #13456)

The magnitude 5.3 quake was centred six kilometres east of Orkney, 170km southwest of Johannesburg in North West, according to the US Geological Survey. One person has been reported dead. "A 31-year-old man was found deceased in an old mining village in Orkney," said ER24 spokesperson Luyanda Majija. "He was found lying under some debris." Emergency workers were in the mining village searching for mineworkers presumed to be trapped in 11 shafts. Majija could not immediately confirm the name of the mine. Officials at AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Gold Fields and Sibanye Gold said earlier that they had felt the tremors at their headquarters but had not received reports of anything untoward in their mines... earthquake report.com, that the quake was felt as far away as Botswana. "This earthquake is severely dangerous because the epicentre is located right below Orkney and Klerksdorp," it said. It reported that severe shaking was felt in Klerksdorp and there was an unconfirmed report of a building that had collapsed, where people were trapped. Lindy Sirayi, a guesthouse owner in Orkney, said the tremor broke glass lampshades and cracked a wall, and that dogs started barking during the quake, which lasted about a minute. She received a telephone call informing her that two people were injured at a nearby mine. Aftershocks were felt, but the electricity in the guesthouse stayed on, Sirayi said. Another person on the ... website reported that two children were injured at an Orkney mine and that buildings were damaged. (reference #11048)

More than R38 million has been approved to rebuild houses affected by the earthquake in Khuma near Orkney, the North West local government department said on Thursday. Altogether 1446 houses were damaged in August 2014, when an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale hit Orkney. Thirteen of the houses were completely wrecked. rReference #11200)

The earthquake, of magnitude ML = 5.5, led to the unfortunate death of one person and damage of more than 600 houses. Intensity data collected soon after the event showed that the effects of the earthquake appeared to vary significantly across the region. (reference #12378)

1 death, 257 injured, USD 40 million in economic loss (reference #13727)