By: Nontsikelelo Ngubane

An earthquake struck South Africa, claiming one life on Tuesday.

On it’s Facebook page, the National Geographics reported that a plate shift of about 5.3 on the Richter scale struck about 120km southwest of Johannesburg.

TimesLive reported that a 31-year-old man was found dead, “lying under debris” at the tremor site.

The tremor was reported to have being felt throughout South Africa and its neighbouring countries, Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi.

Muzi Zuma, who works at Emalahleni where there are a number of mines, said that he regularly feels dynamite blasting but described the quake as an extra-ordinary blasting. “I got the shock of my life,” he said.

From KwaZulu-Natal, Rita Jacobson from Drankensburg said that she felt the tremor just after lunchtime. Jacobson lives at the foot of the Cathkin Peak-Champagne Castle mountain range. “Our bed bolted to the wall. It was the strongest we have felt in 18 years.”

Tall buildings like the media house and the SARS shell house in Durban were evacuated. “Those tremors were very creepy…Media house has been evacuated after the earth started moving,” said Nushera Soodyal.

Twitter and Facebook have also been buzzing with people sharing their experiences during the tremor and some adding humour about the day’s highlight.

“This is an act of god a true miracle. I had kicked my soccer ball on the roof, I had no means of getting it, so I prayed for my soccer ball to come down. That’s when a true miracle happened, the earth started to shake and my ball rolled down! …Now I’m having a cold coke and playing some ball. Thinking about throwing my can on the roof,” said Paul Smith.

On a more African note, Gobhoza Ntshalintshali, a Sangoma in uMlazi said the tremor was an underground creature moving about, she believes that it could have been an ancestor. “With the education that they have acquired, they may call it a disaster but this is the call of mother nature to us,” she said.