Quake could flatten parts of CT

2003-12-04 08:02

Theuns van der Westhuizen

Cape Town - The minor earthquake that shook parts of the Cape Metropole in May this year could be a forerunner of a much bigger one that could lay parts of the Peninsula in ruins.

Besides business centres such as Milnerton, Bellville and the Cape Town city centre, which are obvious danger zones, thousands of people would be at risk in the densely built Mitchell's Plain and Khayelitsha, which are lying on a geological fault.

City Council mayoral committee member for safety, David Erleigh, issued this warning by geotectonics and disaster management specialists on Wednesday on the eve of the memorial of a quake that shook this area 194 years ago.

That quake, which measured 6.5 on the Richter scale flattened the home of Jan Biesjes Kraal on December 4, 1809, and opened large schisms in the earth. Today the Ascot race course in Milnerton stands in its place.

International geotectonics specialist Dr Chris Hartnady says the epicentre of that earthquake was about 20km northeast of the city centre, and several quakes have occurred there.

The geological fault, in which the epicentre is situated, was named the Milnerton Fault by geologists of the former Atomic Energy Corporation.

The fault is situated about 8km from Koeberg in the ocean, through the Milnerton area, the Cape Flats and a part of False Bay.

- Die Burger