Quake hits South Africa, one killed

Johannesburg: An earthquake shook buildings in Johannesburg and surrounding areas in South Africa’s most populous province today. At least one person was killed and three were injured, medical staff said. The magnitude-5.3 quake was centered in Orkney, 170 km southwest of Johannesburg, the US Geological Survey said.[caption id=“attachment_1651285” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A woman stands amid collapsed houses at Longtoushan, in China’s southwest Yunnan province on 5 August 2014. Two days after a magnitude 6.1 tremor devastated the once-idyllic mountainside village of Longtoushan in southwest China’s Yunnan province, at least 398 people have been confirmed dead, with 80,000 houses destroyed and 124,000 seriously damaged. AFP [/caption] One man died when a wall of a disused mining building fell on him, said Werner Vermaak, a spokesman for emergency responders working in the Orkney area, a centre of gold-mining operations. Mine managers ordered the evacuation of workers from shafts and there were no immediate reports of casualties underground, Vermaak said. Three people were hurt when the quake damaged a training centre at a mine, said Phekda Sefali, a receptionist at a hospital in Orkney. “The roof fell on them, but they haven’t got serious injuries,” he said. Hospital staff were on standby, awaiting the outcome of safety checks on miners who were underground at the time of the earthquake, Sefali said. Quakes are a concern to mining companies that operate around Johannesburg, the biggest city in Gauteng province. Mining is a traditional pillar of industry in South Africa. Lindy Sirayi, a guesthouse owner in Orkney, said the tremor broke glass lampshades and cracked a wall, and that dogs started barking during the quake, which lasted about a minute. Aftershocks were felt, but the electricity in the guesthouse stayed on, Sirayi said. The quake was also felt in Pretoria, the South African capital, and Hartbeespoort, a nearby resort town. The area has periodic, moderate tremors, though the quake today was one of the strongest in recent years. AP