Durban quake

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Durban’s Light Earthquake Sets Off Lighthearted Tweets

A tremor which reached 3.1 magnitude hit Durban, KwaZulu-Natal yesterday. Nobody was reported injured, and the tremor – which lasted just a few seconds – appeared to result in nothing too dramatic other than a series of humorous tweets from excited Durbanites. Within minutes of the tremor being felt in and around KZN’s coastal resort last Saturday […]

07-02-16 14:47

A tremor which reached 3.1 magnitude hit Durban, KwaZulu-Natal yesterday. Nobody was reported injured, and the tremor – which lasted just a few seconds – appeared to result in nothing too dramatic other than a series of humorous tweets from excited Durbanites.

Within minutes of the tremor being felt in and around KZN’s coastal resort last Saturday morning, South Africans took to Twitter. One (@Nushi46) wrote: “Made in Taiwan reached Durban! Durbs the weather 2day – earthquakes and suntans or ‘shake and bake’.”

The light earthquake may have been as a consequence of the larger 6.4 earthquake which had hit Tainan City in Taiwan earlier Saturday (in which at least 26 people tragically died).

Some in Durban were unsure if they’d just had a dizzy spell or if it was the car next to them, while others who were walking in town at the time of the tremor reported it being scary and “people shouting that they’re gonna die”.

One tweeter said she was grateful that “we are fortunate and blessed that high magnitude earthquakes never hit South Africa”.

Most turned to humour… blaming the quake on the fees falling, the rand falling, Trevor Noah’s joke about the “curry bomb” and Beyoncé (“Beyoncé drops #Formation & then we get the #DurbanTremor? Coincidence?”).

@when_im_married wrote: “The tremor lasted 6 seconds / The jokes will last for days / The stories will last a lifetime, “Remember when…” Yes. We all do. #durbanTremor.”

In other unusual news, a tornado hit Belfast, Mpumalanga a few days ago.

On Twitter…