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A light magnitude 3.4 earthquake occurred under the sea near the coast of Cape Town early Wednesday afternoon.

The quake had a very shallow depth of 10 kilometres and sent tremors up the West Coast.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported the quake about 76 kilometres West of Cape Town at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres.

The exact magnitude, epicentre, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few days as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their reports.

So far, EMSC has received 156 reports for this quake from South Africa and Namibia. Out of these, 124 people indicated they felt it. The majority of reports came from Cape Town (59 reports).

According to preliminary calculations, we do not expect that the quake was felt by many people and did not cause any damage. In Cape Town, the quake was probably not felt.

Fortunately, earthquakes close to Cape Town are rare, the most historically severe one occurring northeast of Cape Town on September 29th, 1969. The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.3 and took 12 lives and resulted in extensive damage.

Another 6.3 magnitude earthquake occurred closer (10 km) to Cape Town on September 4th, 1809 at the Milnerton Fault (where the Cape Town stadium now is).

[source:volcanodiscovery]