3.6 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Western Sydney
Residents of western Sydney and the Blue Mountains have been caught by surprise as the Warragamba area was hit by a 3.6 magnitude earthquake last night. According to the Australian Government website Geoscience Australia, the quake occurred at approximately 8:53pm, eight kilometres beneath the surface of the Blue Mountains National Park 20km south west of Penrith, and had generated 3495 “felt reports” by 10:32pm.
The earthquake was confirmed by the Bureau of Meteorology just before 9.30pm local time, and the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.
Locals feel large jolt as earthquake hits
Locals reported hearing a loud bang as the earthquake started, with some describing the quake as a singular, powerful jolt. The quake resulted in a large volume of calls to the Blue Mountains Police and Nepean Police, although the New South Wales State Emergency Service has stated that they haven’t received any reports of damage or calls for help. The New South Wales Police have been patrolling the impacted areas without incident.
Earthquake “relatively weak”
Despite the earthquake being felt across a widespread area, the earthquake has been described as relatively weak by Geoscience Australia senior seismologist, Hadi Ghasemi. “I think it was powerful in the sense that people would feel it, as was the case here, and also the timing of the event," he said. "It happened at night, generally speaking people are not mobile and they were relaxing."
While earthquakes of this magnitude are felt at street level, many pass by without comment . 98 shocks have been recorded within a 100km radius of the most recent quake’s epicentre in the last 100 years. Only 10 of those shocks have been measured at a magnitude of three or more. The Seismology Research Centre, which logs seismic activity in south-east Australia, records dozens of earthquakes measuring below magnitude 2 each week.
