Rustenburg - Seventeen employees were injured at two of AngloGold Ashanti's Vaal River mines in North West following Tuesday's earthquake, the company said.
“AngloGold Ashanti confirms that an earthquake of 5.3 magnitude occurred near its Vaal River operations in South Africa, at a depth of roughly 8km.
“Early indications are that 17 of our employees at the Great Noligwa and Moab Khotsong mines sustained minor injuries and are being attended to on site by emergency medical staff,” said AngloGold Ashanti spokesman Chris Nthite in a statement.
Power was temporarily interrupted and had since been mostly restored, he said. Engineers had begun clearing shafts.
“Our priority is the safe passage of our employees from underground. Engineers are inspecting shaft infrastructure, and at those shafts where this work is complete, hoisting of people to surface has already begun.”
He said AngloGold Ashanti's West Wits operations were not affected.
Tuesday's earthquake struck after midday, shaking buildings and rattling pictures and windows, resulting in some buildings being evacuated.
The Council for Geoscience said the quake measured 5.5 magnitude on the Richter scale.
The United States Geological Survey reported it being a 5.3 magnitude quake.
The council could not say why the US had a lower figure.
ER24 reported that a man was found dead following the earthquake.
“A 31-year-old man was found deceased in an old mining village in Orkney, in the North West,” said ER24 spokeswoman Luyanda Majija.
The man was found lying under debris.
Emergency workers were at the mining village.
- Sapa/IOL
Showing posts with label Weather and Disaster Warnings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Weather and Disaster Warnings. Show all posts
Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Will you pay for earthquake information?
I see
several requests on the social media for people to assist the Council for Geoscience with
information reports (completing of a questionnaire) on the earthquake yesterday in South Africa. Before you grab the keyboard to assist
just remember that it is this council that ask for money if you want
information and data on earthquakes in South Africa. Data was removed
from their website from free public viewing.
Now they want you to send them reports on this earthquake for free.
We tend to forget very quickly in this country. I am more than willing
to send them information and data for free if the people of this country
can also get data and info free from them. Why should we send free
reports if they want us to pay for info from them? Another alarming
fact is that the outside world knew within minutes after the incident
what the intensity was of the quake in SA. Council for Geoscience
release this vital information a few hours after the quake. We need to
catch a wake up in this country and stop selling vital disaster and
weather information to the public. I said it before and will keep on
saying it. Vital information on weather and disasters should be free of
any charges and be released instantly. Do we have to wait for people
to die before vital information will be free to the public?
- MSBWX + @SAWXREP
- MSBWX + @SAWXREP
SA quake severely dangerous - US Geological Survey
Johannesburg - The US Geological Survey said on its website
"Earthquake report.com" that the earthquake experienced in South
Africa on Tuesday was felt as far off as Botswana.
- Did you feel the tremor in your area? Tell us where. Have you heard of injuries? Upload PHOTOS, upload STORIES, or E-MAIL.
One person has been reported dead in a 5.3 magnitude earthquake which struck six kilometres east of Orkney in the North West shortly after midday.
"This earthquake is severely dangerous because the epicentre is located right below Orkney and Klerksdorp," it said.
It reported that severe shaking was felt in Klerksdorp and there was an unconfirmed report of a building that had collapsed, where people were trapped.
Another report on the website said a school building in Klerksdorp shook so badly that pupils were thrown off balance.
"Our school has three storeys and I was in the middle when it shook. We dove for the door along with our geography teacher and we were told to evacuate the building," said a pupil on the website.
"We are on the football field, damage [was] done to multiple classrooms."
Another person on the website reported that two children were injured at an Orkney mine, and that buildings were damaged.
The Council for Geosciences could not immediately be reached for comment.
Fatality
Earlier, ER24 confirmed that one person was reported dead following the quake.
"A 31-year-old man was found deceased in an old mining village in Orkney, in the North West," said ER24 spokesperson Luyanda Majija.
"He was found lying under some debris."
Emergency workers were at the mining village, searching for mineworkers presumed to be trapped in 11 shafts. Majija could not immediately confirm the name of the mine.
The tremors were felt in various parts of the country, shaking buildings, rattling windows and resulting in building evacuations.
People immediately took to social media to report it.
"Who else just felt the earthquake. That was a crazy... tremor," said Johannesburg resident Adrian Patrick on Facebook.
"Here in Durban too," responded Byron David.
Evacuated
Citizens from Johannesburg to KwaZulu-Natal, North West, and Cape Town reported feeling the quake.
Sapa's reporter in Durban said people in the 32-storey Durban Bay House, one of the tallest buildings in the city, were evacuated.
Hundreds of people were milling around Anton Lembede Street where the building is located in the city centre.
"I felt it. I thought I was going mad. I stood up and saw my colleagues rushing out," said Lungelo Xaba, who works on 17th floor of the building.
Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the tremor was felt in most parts of the city.
"The city has not received any reports of injuries, or collapsed building. However we will be monitoring the situation."
Engineering geologist Oliver Barker told eNCA that it was an earthquake, and went into details about the history of earthquakes on the sub-continent.
- Did you feel the tremor in your area? Tell us where. Have you heard of injuries? Upload PHOTOS, upload STORIES, or E-MAIL.
One person has been reported dead in a 5.3 magnitude earthquake which struck six kilometres east of Orkney in the North West shortly after midday.
"This earthquake is severely dangerous because the epicentre is located right below Orkney and Klerksdorp," it said.
It reported that severe shaking was felt in Klerksdorp and there was an unconfirmed report of a building that had collapsed, where people were trapped.
Another report on the website said a school building in Klerksdorp shook so badly that pupils were thrown off balance.
"Our school has three storeys and I was in the middle when it shook. We dove for the door along with our geography teacher and we were told to evacuate the building," said a pupil on the website.
"We are on the football field, damage [was] done to multiple classrooms."
Another person on the website reported that two children were injured at an Orkney mine, and that buildings were damaged.
The Council for Geosciences could not immediately be reached for comment.
Fatality
Earlier, ER24 confirmed that one person was reported dead following the quake.
"A 31-year-old man was found deceased in an old mining village in Orkney, in the North West," said ER24 spokesperson Luyanda Majija.
"He was found lying under some debris."
Emergency workers were at the mining village, searching for mineworkers presumed to be trapped in 11 shafts. Majija could not immediately confirm the name of the mine.
The tremors were felt in various parts of the country, shaking buildings, rattling windows and resulting in building evacuations.
People immediately took to social media to report it.
"Who else just felt the earthquake. That was a crazy... tremor," said Johannesburg resident Adrian Patrick on Facebook.
"Here in Durban too," responded Byron David.
Evacuated
Citizens from Johannesburg to KwaZulu-Natal, North West, and Cape Town reported feeling the quake.
Sapa's reporter in Durban said people in the 32-storey Durban Bay House, one of the tallest buildings in the city, were evacuated.
Hundreds of people were milling around Anton Lembede Street where the building is located in the city centre.
"I felt it. I thought I was going mad. I stood up and saw my colleagues rushing out," said Lungelo Xaba, who works on 17th floor of the building.
Johannesburg emergency services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said the tremor was felt in most parts of the city.
"The city has not received any reports of injuries, or collapsed building. However we will be monitoring the situation."
Engineering geologist Oliver Barker told eNCA that it was an earthquake, and went into details about the history of earthquakes on the sub-continent.
- SAPA/NEWS24
Tuesday, 5 August 2014
M5.3 Earthquake - 6km East of Orkney, South Africa
Event Time
- 2014-08-05 10:22:34 UTC
- 2014-08-05 12:22:34 UTC+02:00 at epicenter
- 2014-08-05 12:22:34 UTC+02:00 system time
Location
26.986°S 26.741°E depth=10.0km (6.2mi)Nearby Cities
- 6km (4mi) E of Orkney, South Africa
- 15km (9mi) S of Stilfontein, South Africa
- 16km (10mi) SSE of Klerksdorp, South Africa
- 32km (20mi) NW of Viljoenskroon, South Africa
- 199km (124mi) SW of Pretoria, South Africa
Quake shakes central South Africa, one dead
(Reuters) - A 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit central South Africa on Tuesday, killing at least one man who died when a wall collapsed on top of him, according to emergency services.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the tremor was centered in Orkney, a town around 120 km (70 miles) southwest of Johannesburg, an area with a high concentration of deep gold mines.
"One of the buildings collapsed on a man believed to be in his 30s ... by the time paramedics arrived there was nothing they could do for him," Werner Vermaak, spokesman for emergency service provider ER24, told local television.
ER24 and South African rescue services confirmed that no miners were trapped underground, alleviating earlier concerns that workers were stuck in shafts.
Officials at AngloGold Ashanti, Harmony Gold, Gold Fields and Sibanye Gold said they had felt the tremors in their headquarters but had so far received no reports of anything untoward in their mines.
The area around Johannesburg is not prone to seismic activity but it is home to some of the deepest gold mines in the world. The quake is the largest in the southern Africa region since a 7.0 tremor in Zimbabwe in 2006.
- Reuters
MSBWX: Full timeline of the quake available at: @SAWXREP and MSBWX Facebook page.
Thursday, 17 July 2014
George: Witfontein 'a disaster waiting to happen'
GEORGE NEWS - "The Witfontein Forest, in its current degraded state, is
posing a fire hazard and is a disaster waiting to happen."
So said Patch Bonkemeyer, CEO of Cape Pine, on Friday during an interview with the George Herald. He added, "The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) was quite right in warning the Department of Agriculture, Fo-restry and Fisheries (DAFF) to get their house in order, and to immediately start maintaining fire breaks and prune their pine plantations."
Runaway fires
Industry players and the Eden Disaster Management recently issued similar warnings about the fire hazard situation. What makes the situation so precarious is that this state owned forest is situated right on the borders of George, and the annual warm August 'berg winds' can fuel runaway fires.
In 2005 Eden Disaster Management's fire crew had to fight a desperate battle to keep the flames from engulfing the northern and eastern suburbs of George.
Bonkemeyer was reacting to a report in last week's issue of the George Herald in which the repercussions of ignoring the degraded state of Witfontein was printed. The report highlighted a directive issued to the DAFF by Ishaam Abader, the environmental management inspector of the DEA, on 26 June stating that the failure to halt alien infestation at Witfontein has further aggravated the fuel loading.
"It would appear that the DAFF is in non-compliance with the provision of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) in that there is a failure to prune or thin the plantation thus presenting a significant fire risk, especially considering the amount of dead undergrowth." Abader warned that the necessary 'enforcement actions' would be taken if the directive is not adhered to.
Mismanagement
But the state of dereliction at Witfontein, as spelt out by Abader, (the fuel loading and inaccessibility 'presents a clear hazard to the safety of the inhabitants of George and surroundings') is not the only crisis. Bonkemeyer sketched a grave situation about the economic effect of the absence of managing the local state forest. "The 360ha Witfontein Forest is on the brink of becoming totally unviable as a commercial forest."
When the Western Cape Regional Manager Susan Steyn and her head, Cyril Ndou, the DAFF director of forest management in Pretoria, were contacted by the George Herald for a response they stated that the directive had not reached them. The deputy director, Dr Nthabiseng Motete, was not available for a comment a week ago. Bonkemeyer said he wants to emphasise that Steyn and Ndou are both of good will, but they just don't have the resources to properly manage the forests.
Sound
In closing, Bonkemeyer said, "Make no mistake. I came here to put Cape Pine on a sound financial footing and it certainly is. We have contracts with Tsitsikamma to keep the sawmill going and have tendered for more contracts upcountry." Bonkemeyer and his wife are returning to Washington to be with their children. A successor has not been named yet.
22 000 ha lie fallow
In a George Herald report last April the DAFF announced it was determining a strategy to re-commission forestry in a competitive and sustainable manner in the Boland and George areas. It would now seem that the 22 000ha in those two areas have continued to lie fallow.
Cape Pine, which is majority owned by a US based investment firm Global Environment Fund (GEF) (formerly Safcol and MTO), has been managing the Southern and Eastern Cape plantations (excluding the Witfontein areas, in accordance) with a lease agreement with the DAFF. The Outeniqua plantation stretches from Garcia plantation near Riversdale to Kruisfontein in Knysna where Pinus radiata and Pinus elliotti pine trees species are grown on rotation. The George Sawmill is the primary mill serving this area where wood destined for the building trade and furniture industry is processed.
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
So said Patch Bonkemeyer, CEO of Cape Pine, on Friday during an interview with the George Herald. He added, "The Department of Environmental Affairs (DEA) was quite right in warning the Department of Agriculture, Fo-restry and Fisheries (DAFF) to get their house in order, and to immediately start maintaining fire breaks and prune their pine plantations."
Runaway fires
Industry players and the Eden Disaster Management recently issued similar warnings about the fire hazard situation. What makes the situation so precarious is that this state owned forest is situated right on the borders of George, and the annual warm August 'berg winds' can fuel runaway fires.
In 2005 Eden Disaster Management's fire crew had to fight a desperate battle to keep the flames from engulfing the northern and eastern suburbs of George.
Bonkemeyer was reacting to a report in last week's issue of the George Herald in which the repercussions of ignoring the degraded state of Witfontein was printed. The report highlighted a directive issued to the DAFF by Ishaam Abader, the environmental management inspector of the DEA, on 26 June stating that the failure to halt alien infestation at Witfontein has further aggravated the fuel loading.
"It would appear that the DAFF is in non-compliance with the provision of the National Environmental Management Act (Nema) in that there is a failure to prune or thin the plantation thus presenting a significant fire risk, especially considering the amount of dead undergrowth." Abader warned that the necessary 'enforcement actions' would be taken if the directive is not adhered to.
Mismanagement
But the state of dereliction at Witfontein, as spelt out by Abader, (the fuel loading and inaccessibility 'presents a clear hazard to the safety of the inhabitants of George and surroundings') is not the only crisis. Bonkemeyer sketched a grave situation about the economic effect of the absence of managing the local state forest. "The 360ha Witfontein Forest is on the brink of becoming totally unviable as a commercial forest."
When the Western Cape Regional Manager Susan Steyn and her head, Cyril Ndou, the DAFF director of forest management in Pretoria, were contacted by the George Herald for a response they stated that the directive had not reached them. The deputy director, Dr Nthabiseng Motete, was not available for a comment a week ago. Bonkemeyer said he wants to emphasise that Steyn and Ndou are both of good will, but they just don't have the resources to properly manage the forests.
Sound
In closing, Bonkemeyer said, "Make no mistake. I came here to put Cape Pine on a sound financial footing and it certainly is. We have contracts with Tsitsikamma to keep the sawmill going and have tendered for more contracts upcountry." Bonkemeyer and his wife are returning to Washington to be with their children. A successor has not been named yet.
22 000 ha lie fallow
In a George Herald report last April the DAFF announced it was determining a strategy to re-commission forestry in a competitive and sustainable manner in the Boland and George areas. It would now seem that the 22 000ha in those two areas have continued to lie fallow.
Cape Pine, which is majority owned by a US based investment firm Global Environment Fund (GEF) (formerly Safcol and MTO), has been managing the Southern and Eastern Cape plantations (excluding the Witfontein areas, in accordance) with a lease agreement with the DAFF. The Outeniqua plantation stretches from Garcia plantation near Riversdale to Kruisfontein in Knysna where Pinus radiata and Pinus elliotti pine trees species are grown on rotation. The George Sawmill is the primary mill serving this area where wood destined for the building trade and furniture industry is processed.
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
Monday, 30 September 2013
MSBWX Twitter Alerts: Critical information when you need it most
We know from our users how important it is to be able to receive reliable information during these times.
If you sign up to receive an account’s Twitter Alerts, you will receive a notification directly to your phone whenever that account marks a Tweet as an alert. Notifications are delivered via SMS, and if you use Twitter for iPhone or Twitter for Android, you’ll also receive a push notification*. Alerts also appear differently on your home timeline from regular Tweets; they will be indicated with an orange bell.
To subscribe to these notifications, you can go directly to an account’s setup page, which you’ll find at twitter.com/[username]/alerts. See FEMA’s page at twitter.com/FEMA/alerts for an example. Additionally, on web, you can see if an organization is part of the program when you visit its profile.
Currently, a number of organizations in the U.S., Japan and Korea can send Alerts, and we will expand the service to include more public institutions and NGOs around the world.
*To receive Twitter Alerts as push notifications, you must be using Twitter for iPhone version 5.10 or higher, and Twitter for Android 4.1.6 or higher.
MSBWX - This is absolutely great news. Mossel Bay Weather 2013 is currently busy to subscribe to these notifications. More information to follow.
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