Earthquake strikes South Africa, one dead

A 5.3 magnitude earthquake struck South Africa on Tuesday, shaking buildings in the commercial capital Johannesburg and killing one man in a gold mining town.

The quake, centred south of Johannesburg, was reportedly felt as far afield as neighbouring Botswana and Mozambique.

At least one person was killed when a building collapsed in the town Orkney in the heart of a gold mining belt, according to emergency services agency ER24.

"One man was killed when a wall collapsed at a house in the Orkney area," ER24 spokesman Werner Vermaak told AFP.

ER24 said workers at a gold mine in Orkney had been evacuated but no injuries were reported.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at 1022 GMT, was six kilometres (almost four miles) east of Orkney and over 180 kilometres south of Johannesburg, the United States Geological Survey said.

Two months ago the same gold mining area was hit by a 4.9 tremor.

The last major quake to hit South Africa was in 1969 in Western Cape province and had a magnitude of 6.3.