Moderate mag. 4.5 earthquake - Orange Free State, 13 km east of Orkney, South Africa, on 2016-10-31 07:59:20 +02:00
Quake Data | Interactive map | User Reports | Earlier quakes here | Quakes in South Africa | Orange Free State | North West | Gauteng


Moderate magnitude 4.5 earthquake at 5 km depth
31 Oct 22:20 UTC: First to report: USGS after 16 hours.
Earthquake details
Date & time | Oct 31, 2016 05:59:20 UTC |
Local time at epicenter | 2016-10-31 07:59:20 +02:00 |
Status | Confirmed |
Magnitude | 4.5 |
Depth | 5.0 km |
Epicenter latitude / longitude | 26.9581°S / 26.804°E ![]() |
Antipode | 26.958°N / 153.196°W |
Shaking intensity | Moderate shaking near epicenter |
Felt | 0 reports |
Primary data source | USGS (United States Geological Survey) |
Nearby towns and cities | 13 km (8 mi) SSE of Stilfontein (North-West) (pop: 93,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 13 km (8 mi) E of Orkney (North-West) (pop: 145,800) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 18 km (11 mi) SE of Klerksdorp (North-West) (pop: 178,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 31 km (19 mi) NNW of Viljoenskroon (pop: 55,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 40 km (25 mi) SW of Potchefstroom (North-West) (pop: 123,700) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 51 km (32 mi) NNE of Bothaville (pop: 71,900) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 130 km (81 mi) SW of Soweto (Gauteng) (pop: 1,695,000) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 149 km (93 mi) SW of Johannesburg (Gauteng) (pop: 2,026,500) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 193 km (120 mi) SW of Pretoria (Gauteng) (pop: 1,619,400) | Show on map | Quakes nearby 247 km (154 mi) NNE of Bloemfontein (pop: 463,100) | Show on map | Quakes nearby |
Estimated seismic energy released | 3.5 x 1011 joules (98.6 megawatt hours, equivalent to 84.8 tons of TNT) | about seismic energy |
Data for the same earthquake reported by different agencies
Info: The more agencies report about the same quake and post similar data, the more confidence you can have in the data. It takes normally up to a few hours until earthquake parameters are calculated with near-optimum precision.
Mag. | Depth | Location | Source |
4.5 | 5 km | - 13km E of Orkney, South Africa | USGS |
User reports for this quake
User reports estimate the perceived ground shaking intensity according to the MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) scale.
Earlier earthquakes in the same area
Click here to search our database for earlier earthquakes in the same area since 1900!