Johannesburg endangered by earthquakes caused by rising mine-water

Adriana Stuijt - Geo-physicist
Prof Ray Durrheim warns that Johannesburg earthquakes will increase in
intensity and frequently unless the Government intervenes by pumping out
the rising minewater levels in the thousands of tunnels below.

Durrheim,

who has studied the earthquakes in the gold-mining city for the past 25
years, said the latest quake measuring 2,9 on the Richter scale, is
'worrying'.  That's two earthquakes of a similar scale within just two months.
Any
quakes above 5 on the open-ended scale will spell disaster for the
millions of people living in greater Johanneburg, he warned.

"People
face life-threatening situations for instance when glass windows crack
open during quakes; and buildings can sustain structural damage,' he
said.

The financial sector of the country is also endangered if their
headquarters and communications-networks located in the Johannesburg
CBD, are damaged.

The Times, who interviewed him, said Prof Durrheim
pointed out that that's exactly what happened on March 2005 when the
mining town of Stilfontein North West province was struck by a 5.8
earthquake.  Apartment buildings, houses and business premises were
damaged and 38 people were injured. And Stillfontein does not have a
large high-rise complex as does Johannesburg.

Mineworkers also had to be rescued from the shaken shafts below.
The
government's Council for Geo-Science claims however that 'they don't
know what the earthquakes are caused by as they are still investigating
its causes.'

The rising levels of the poisonous, chemically-polluted,
and highly radio-active minewater threatens to engulf greater
Johannesburg in an environmental crisis unless the mine-pumps are turned
back on. 
The acid goop will start bubbling to the surface within 17 months. It's now only 500m below the ground and rising steadily.

In some places it already has: the sites of the Standard Bank head-office and Gold Reef City are flooding slowly.
The
acid goop also eats away at the foundations of the buildings throughout
the region, endangering the residents because the buildings can
collapse.

The acid water also causes sinkholes and a growing number of fault-lines beneath mining towns in East- and West-Rand

This article was submitted by an independent journalist from the Netherlands who was a reporter for the South Africa Times for many years before her retirement and return to her country of origin.  Her knowledge of environmental affairs and human rights concerns as well as medical issues on the continent of Africa is significant, and we appreciate her contributions to GHN.