Quake town waits for all-clear

2005-03-09 19:31

Klerksdorp - People of Stilfontein milled around the mining town's central business district on Wednesday afternoon waiting to hear if it was safe for them to return to their homes after the earthquake that hit at lunchtime.

Worst hit in the earthquake were two blocks of flats and the civic centre, which housed businesses in the mining town.

Among these was a three-storey block of flats, which appeared to have had a clean slice taken off at one end.

Across the road, an old empty fire station, which later became a joint operations centre, windows had been shattered.

Superintendent Louis Jacobs said: "Other people in houses have come forward to the centre saying they do not feel safe in their homes."

Grandmom grabs grandchild

He said the 40 injured people had "luckily had only bruises, cuts, and scratches".

Yvonne Heintze, who is a grandmother, was cooking when the earthquake hit.

She said: "I just grabbed my grandchild and ran. I wasn't thinking that much. I don't think one can think."

Heintze believes the roofs of two flats above her collapsed on top of her home.

She had no idea what caused the wound, now bandaged, on her wrist. "But it was probably glass."

"I saw the flats come down and ran. I got such a fright I couldn't think."

Among people who gathered to see what had taken the "stil" out of "Stilfontein" at lunchtime, was former miner Johan van der Westhuizen.

Warning that 'it will happen again'

He rushed to Stilfontein from Johannesburg, about 200km away, to comfort his mother, Susan, whose house had a couple of cracks.

Van der Westhuizen warned: "It's going to happen again."

"This ground here all around Stilfontein is rotten, rotten, rotten."

People told stories of skidding cars and moving houses after a large earthquake on Wednesday.

Thaliti Monyatsi, one of the residents, said: "It was terrible. I got so scared."

She said that in her six years in the mining area she had often experienced tremors, "but it is the first time I felt something like this."

The Council for Geoscience said the quake hit about midday, and measured 5.0 on the Richter scale.

Pub owner also affected

Margaret van Wyk said the earth started moving while she was sitting outside her house. "I got such a fright - I was trembling."

Desiree Dreyer who owns a pub in the town had to deal with the damage after the earthquake had finished.

She said: "All the booze bottles were broken and spilt all over the floor."

She was driving her car at the time, and it had skidded over the road - as if sliding on wet tar.

"It was really not a nice feeling."

Police have reported only minor injuries resulting from quake the so far. Mines in the area have reported 13 injuries, but no deaths.

However, most residents of Stilfontein are going to have problems getting their lives back together.

- SAPA