Old picture of sinkhole does not show destruction caused by recent earthquake in South Africa

This article is more than one year old.
Published on June 15, 2023 at 11:41
3 min read
By Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa

South Africa’s business hub Johannesburg experienced a 5.0 magnitude earthquake in the early hours of June 11, 2023, with no reports of casualties or significant damage. Despite this, a photograph being shared on Twitter shows a large crater outside a home purportedly caused by the quake. This is false: the picture is at least three months old and was used in a report about an area in Johannesburg that has seen numerous sinkholes opening up.

“That earth quake nearly killed us #earthquake #Johannesburg (sic),” reads a tweet published on June 11, 2023, with a picture of a badly cratered residential road.

A screenshot of the false tweet, taken on June 12, 2023

The same picture was tweeted with a similar claim here while this tweet omitted the Johannesburg hashtag.

Early morning tremor

A “notable quake” was how the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) described the seismic event in South Africa’s Gauteng province.

Notable quake, preliminary info: M 5.0 - South Africa https://t.co/9xDGseDluG
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) June 11, 2023

According to USGS data (archived), the 5.0 magnitude quake struck at 2:38 am (0038 GMT) approximately 10 kilometres below the surface and just southeast of the centre of Johannesburg.

A screenshot of the USGS data recording the quake

Social media users took to Twitter to confirm their experiences with videos of homes, offices and streets shaking (archived here).

#earthquake the sound was insane as it pissed under our house pic.twitter.com/dpHUsL9u5R
— Sheldon Henderson (@Sheldonbh79) June 11, 2023

However, the claim that the tweeted picture purportedly shows a damaged road caused by the earthquake is false.

Unrelated sinkhole

A reverse image search led to a photo essay published on March 23, 2023, by South Africa’s Daily Maverick describing proliferating sinkholes in Khutsong, a township to the west of Johannesburg in the historical mining town of Carletonville (archived here).

All the photos in the series were taken on March 7, 2023, by South African photographer Felix Dlangamandla, who confirmed his pictures were unrelated to the earthquake.

A screenshot of the Daily Maverick article published on March 23, 2023

The area is underlain by dolomite — a composition of calcium and magnesium (more on this here and here) that sometimes can lead to the formation of sinkholes due to water penetration.

As reported by South African media (here, here and here), some Khutsong residents have been asked to vacate their homes as buildings continue to be swallowed up over time.

Residents have said heavy rains aggravate the problem, while stormwater drains are poorly maintained and blocked.

Residents affected by sinkholes in the Merafong Municipality say they fear for their lives following heavy downpours. Several properties have been damaged. @TumaoleNewz has more.

Watch: https://t.co/ccfSobnWpG #Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/zHdBvWtHFs
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) December 6, 2022

The provincial government of Gauteng announced on March 7, 2023, that it was set to declare Khutsong a national disaster area to open up emergency funding to address the crisis (archived here).

"Every day, we are inundated with emergency calls as houses are collapsing. We have now reached a stage where we must declare a state of disaster in this municipality," Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi said at the time.

As for the earthquake, local media cited South Africa’s Council for Geoscience (CGS) on June 11, 2023, saying that it is investigating the event as “it might be mining-related seismicity or due to fluctuations in groundwater levels” (archived here).

Most seismic events in the country have been linked to mining activity, as reported here and here.