Sunday, 11 June, got off to a shaky start as an earth tremor with a magnitude of 4.4 hit across Gauteng. The epicentre was around Boksburg, a few kilometres outside East Rand Proprietary Mine. Many households woke up to structural damage, with walls cracked and their roofs caving in after the 02:38 seismic activity.

02:38:53 to 02:38:56 in the early morning hours City of Johannesburg experienced a Tremor which is a Minor Earthquake. My family, relatives, colleagues and friends from Johannesburg I hope you are all safe after what happened #JoburgTremor#earthquake pic.twitter.com/lPTn6fwd6P

— The Lord Of The Wings( Lisa) Arsenal Biggest Fan🏐 (@WhyUfikelate) June 11, 2023

A BIG SHAKE

It’s by far one of the biggest events compared to recent history on record by the SA National Seismograph Network. Council for GeoSciences’s Willem Mentjies confirmed during an interview on Newzroom Afrika that, " An earthquake did occur with the magnitude of 4.4, which is relatively large. It was felt as far as the City of Tshwane.

South Africa simply cannot afford anything above 6.0 in Gauteng. This government simply does not have the capacity for a disaster management effort of that scale. Turkey in Feb registered around 7.8. #Earthquake pic.twitter.com/LZfVXg0pDX

— Just A Guy (@XabisoMatewu) June 11, 2023

SHOPPING CENTRE TOLD TO SHUT DOWN

William Ntladi from Ekurhuleni Emergency Services said that although no public infrastructure has been reported to be damaged, they would conduct inspections across the area to ascertain how much damage was done. He added that the roof of a Bedfordview at a shopping centre has collapsed and the management has been advised to close it and get structural assessments done before they can start operating. There are no casualties that have been reported but residents have urged to report any glaring damages.

The aftermath of the #earthquake My cousin woke up to this. #Boksburg pic.twitter.com/u3xyCp3TvG

— MamJwarha (@MissNuwang) June 11, 2023