If you live in southern NSW or the ACT, you weren’t imagining the shaking last night (14 April). Image: Geoscience Australia.
Parts of southern NSW and the ACT had their evening interrupted by shaking last night (14 April), as a 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck.
Data from Geoscience Australia states the quake was detected south of Orange, in the state’s Central West, at about 8:19 pm, at a depth of about five kilometres.
As of 9:30 am today (15 April), the agency had reported about 2280 ‘felt reports’.
Speaking after the earthquake, Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Doctor Phil Cummins said it was a record-breaking event.
“It’s the largest earthquake ever felt in that area.”
He said most people reported “weak to light” shaking across parts of the state.
“In fact, there is some strong shaking, somewhat south-east of Orange … Someone submitted felt reports for that.”
People living in places as far away as Dubbo, Canberra, Newcastle, Wollongong, Young, Bowral, Wagga Wagga and Sydney reported feeling the shaking, according to Geoscience Australia’s map.
On Facebook, one Canberran reported that his “whole room shook for about five seconds”, while another poster reported it felt like a “rush of wind” in Goulburn.
Dr Cummins warned aftershocks were possible, but these were expected to be less intense.
But for the region, it was the second earthquake in a month, after a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was detected near Boorowa in the Hilltops region on the evening of 11 March.
At the time, Geoscience Australia seismologist Hugh Glanville said it was the largest earthquake recorded in the area for decades.
“This is the largest [earthquake] we’ve had since 1977, when we had a 4.8 earthquake at Bowning, which did cause some minor damage,” he said.
Dr Cummins said the NSW Central West had seen several earthquakes since the 1970s.
He pointed to a 4.3 earthquake in 2017, as well as others recorded at 3.5 to 3.8 in magnitude, within a 50-kilometre area around the site.
“That’s not very many – that’s about five earthquakes since 1977,” he said.
“It’s not a place of elevated seismicity [a measure evaluating a region’s seismic activity].”
If you felt the earthquake, you can report it to Geoscience Australia through its website.
Original Article published by Claire Sams on About Regional.
