City of Joburg Pushes for CBD to Be Declared Disaster Site As Cause of Blast Continues to Puzzle Authorities

• The City of Johannesburg has approached the powers to have parts of the CBD declared a disaster site
• This comes as the metro has been struggling to figure out the exact cause of the destructive Bree Street blast
• City Manager Floyd Brink said the city is still working on finding an exact link to the gas explosion

JOHANNESBURG - The City of Johannesburg is working on having parts of the metro's Central Business District (CBD) declared a disaster site.

This comes as the exact cause of the blast that damaged Lilian Ngoyi Street (now Bree), injured 48 people and claimed one life continues to stump the city.

City of Johannesburg continues investigations into CBD blast

While it has been determined that the 19 July explosion was triggered by underground gas, that is all authorities know. City Manager Floyd Brink updated city residents on what investigations have yielded on Wednesday, 26 July.

Read also

SA sends well wishes to 16 students injured in Carletonville accident

Brink said despite the city's best efforts, it has been difficult to link the gas explosion to any form or cause. He added that the metro was waiting on laboratory results that would identify the type of gas ignited, EWN reported.

Declaration of disaster will speed up repair process

Speaking on the declaration of disaster, Brink revealed it would be critical to free up resources to repair the damage from the blast.

Brink said:

"The declaration of the disaster is critical in order for us to assess the impact of the explosion on our infrastructure and the costs for the rehabilitation and or the reconstruction work that must take place in that area."

The metro has already approached the Provincial Disaster Management Centre, eNCA reported.

Read also

UJ bus collision: 77 people injured in ‘horrific’ crash between 2 buses, police open negligent driving case

Joburg CBD explosion: Geographer says illegal mining will destroy Joburg as city searches for cause of blast

In a related story, Briefly News reported that illegal mining become a hot topic in South Africa following two explosions in Johannesburg.

One explosion caused major infrastructure damage in the Joburg Central Business District (CDB), leaving 48 people injured and one dead.

Speaking to SowetanLIVE, Geographer Malaika Mahlatsi explained that several mine shafts were scattered around the Joburg CBD.

Source: Briefly News