No tsunami threat after tremor

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DOCTOR Thomas Bornman from the South African Environmental Observation Network said that the quake that hit South Africa early this afternoon is unlikely to cause a tsunami.

The Zululand Observer’s sister newspaper, The Northglen News interviewed Dr Bornman earlier and this is what he had to say.

‘It all depends where the epicenter of the quake was: If it was as far inland as Orkney the quake would have significantly decimated by the time it hit the coast, but added that marine animals would have felt the quake.’

‘If the quake happened in the ocean, or there was a oceanic landslide, it could possibly have caused a tsunami or changes in the ocean’s behavior’, he said.

It has been reported that the quake was felt as far as Botswana. At this stage it is unclear what could have been the cause of the tremor, but seismologist, Dr Andre Kijko, said it is very likely that it was caused by acid water under Johannesburg.

According to the US Geological Survey, the epicentre of the tremor was six kilometers east of Orkney in the North West Province at a depth of 10km.