Mining work 'sparked quake'

2005-03-09 16:42

Johannesburg -An earthquake that drove thousands of miners to the surface at Stilfontein in North West on Wednesday was "a secondary effect" of mining activity, an expert said.

"This is probably a reactivation of an existing fault line. It is one of those natural things, no one is to blame.

"It is a secondary effect from mining activity," said Ian Saunders, project leader of the SA National Seismograph Network at the Council for Geoscience in Pretoria.

"These are unpredictable and unpreventable..."

About 3 200 miners at DRDGold's operations were being evacuated on Wednesday afternoon after the earthquake, which measured a preliminary five on the Richter Scale.

"Our main priority now is to bring people back to safety and to the surface," said DRDGold spokesperson James Duncan.

He said 13 miners who were injured were being treated at the mine.

Paramedics went underground

Police said another 38 people in the town had slight injuries.

Duncan said: "The mine's emergency services were deployed to the miners underground.

"It is easier for the paramedics to go down and treat the miners right now. We don't know the extent of their injuries."

Duncan said DRDGold's North West operations consisted of eight shafts in the Stilfontein area.

He said the mines had "seismic monitoring systems which work on an ongoing basis. This seismic monitoring system picks up over quite a large area in the mining area and beyond."

He said the system registered four "fairly large" events between 12:15 and 12:22.

"We are still pinpointing the exact magnitudes. There were a number of smallish events afterwards.

There have been reports of damage underground, "but it is really too early to determine the extent of the damage at this stage".

Stilfontein spokesperson Mesh Letanta said an entire block of flats housing elderly people and families had to be abandoned after the building was severely damaged.

Klerksdorp municipality spokesperson Wendy Sokupha said a disaster management team had been set up to co-ordinate relief activities.

"Two blocks of flats had to be evacuated because some walls went down. We also have had reports of broken geysers, broken windows and huge cracks in houses," Sokupha said.

"At the shopping centre, ceilings are down and there are broken windows.

Children at the high school and primary school were let off early today because the schools were damaged."

Police superintendent Pieter Du Plessis said operations were set up at the old fire brigade building.

Two high schools damaged

"It is no longer fit for human habitation," he said.

Two high schools in the mining town were also evacuated as the walls had been damaged.

An emergency committee has been set up to co-ordinate relief activities.

Saunders said the earthquake's epicentre was believed to be around Klerksdorp.

The tremor was felt as far as Johannesburg.

- SAPA