Seismologists said more tremors are expected to hit the country again over the next few days, the Saturday Star reported.

“I expect there would be at least two or three magnitude four events coming up within the next week or two,” technical director of earth science consulting company Umvoto Africa, Dr Chris Hartnady told the newspaper.

“Very often one finds in quake areas the main shot delivers a damage blow to some buildings but then quite often its the smaller aftershocks that finish them off.”

Hartnady said if people reoccupied damaged buildings before the aftershock sequence closed, they would be putting their lives in danger.

Council of Geoscience seismologist Michelle Grobbelaar agreed that more earthquakes were expected, the publication reported.

“The rule of thumb in seismology is that history repeats itself. We can get those magnitudes (of 5.5) coming back. We can’t say when it will happen but we can expect another one,” she was quoted as saying.

A 31-year-old man was killed in a mining village near Orkney, North West on Tuesday when the 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck the region.

At least 34 miners were injured by the earthquake, and more than 600 houses were damaged.

Grobbelaar said mining areas like the North West province had more than 80 percent seismicity.

Aftershocks in the Orkney and Klerksdorp areas were being monitored, she said. SAPA