Magnitude established for minor earthquake

BURGERSFORT – The tremor experienced on Wednesday morning by locals has been identified as a minor earthquake. Michelle Grobbelaar, councillor at Geoscience stated that the magnitude of the event was 2.6 on the Richter scale.

A Magnitude is a measure of the amount of energy released during an earthquake. To calculate magnitude, the amplitude of waves on a seismogram is measured, correcting for the distance between the recording instrument and the earthquake epicentre. Since magnitude is representative of the earthquake itself, there is thus only one magnitude per earthquake. According to the Richter scale a earthquake with a small magnitude between 2.5 to 5.4 magnitudes are often felt, but only causes minor damage or none at all.

(Source: Geoscience and UPSeis)