Did the Earth move for you, Joburg? Experts confirm ‘tremor’ in the city

It might not be the biggest seismic movement, but plenty of residents near Boksburg felt the ground shake beneath them earlier this week. Experts have since confirmed that a tremor DID hit this region of Johannesburg on Sunday.

Johannesburg tremor leaves locals SHOOK

However, several social media users didn’t need to wait for the geologists to come to their conclusions. Twitter was abuzz, with users asking others if the Earth moved for them…

Earth tremor in Boksburg?? .

— stlogolo sa Alfred (@FutureUncleBae) May 2, 2021

Boksburg mense… who felt that tremor…

— LoveOfAllThingsWine (@DiWINEdiva) May 2, 2021

3rd tremor in 30 mins – Boksburg, if I don’t make it home, it was nice meeting you pic.twitter.com/kl85Qfeul4

— #TheOneKneeRunner, #TheTopLessDJ (@OfficialVeli) May 2, 2021

Details of the latest ‘Johannesburg tremor’

• – The tremor took place at 13:24 on Sunday 2 May.
• – The epicentre was recorded just 6km outside of Boksburg, at a depth of 10km.
• – Its magnitude measured in at 2.5 on the Richter Scale, before being downgraded to a 2.4 quake.
• – The Council for Geoscience and the South African National Seismograph Network have both reported a tremor.
• – Sensations of ‘rattling, vibrating, and light shaking’ have all been reported by locals in the past 48 hours or so.

Is it not an Earthquake?

Residents in Edenvale, Alberton and Benoni also reported minor rumbles over the weekend. It’s the first significant tremor of the year, after 2020 saw plenty of seismic action in South Africa. Both Johannesburg and Cape Town reported a number of quakes during lockdown, and tremors have also been felt in Durban over the past 12 months.

However, we can’t technically call incidents like this one an earthquake. That’s because anything under 4.0 on the Richter Scale isn’t strong enough to be classed as anything other than a tremor. South Africa has previously experienced an earthquake of 6.3 in Tulbagh, and it remains the strongest underground movement ever recorded in the country.