Shallow magnitude 3.5 earthquake recorded near Appin, south-west of Sydney
A shallow magnitude 3.5 earthquake has been recorded near Appin, south-west of Sydney.
The earthquake was felt at 2:53pm this afternoon, striking at a depth of two kilometres.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Dr Jonathan Bathgate said an earthquake of this size was relatively small but was strong enough to be felt throughout the region.
"It would have been quite short in terms of its duration of shaking but certainly people have felt it around the region," Dr Bathgate said.
"Often people hear it more than they feel it with these sorts of magnitudes. Generally there's a short, sharp jolt at magnitude 3."
Geoscience Australia's website shows hundreds of "felt reports" with the earthquake appearing to originate from an area near Appin in the Wollondilly Shire.
"We have certainly got a lot of reports to the National Earthquake Alert Centre in Canberra from the southern suburbs of Sydney, not so much in the north," Dr Bathgate said.
Callers to Sydney radio have told of their experience, including Savana from Camden who said she was working from home when she felt her whole house shake.
Others on social media reported feeling the tremor at Spring Farm and Coledale.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake was not a mine blast.
"It is difficult to say whether it is mining related or not at these sorts of magnitudes," he said.
"At this stage it looks like normal seismic activity we have been recording there for a number of years."
The NSW State Emergency Service said there have been no reports of damage.
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'I think there is this deep-seated fear that if they were to change something and something untoward were to happen... another politician is going to use that against them to bring down their career,' he said. Dr Daryl McPhee from Bond University has been studying the 40-year trend of increasing shark bites globally. 'That's unsurprising because we have more people in the water in more places doing a great diversity of things,' he said. 'We also expect to see more bull sharks around river mouths after prolonged rain and flooding rains, which we've seen a lot over the last couple of years.' He said healthier whale populations might also be responsible for attracting sharks to the east coast. Dr McPhee said a reduction in fishing has likely helped some smaller shark species recover in recent decades. But it was difficult to say whether anecdotal reports of a greater abundance of white, tiger and bull sharks were correct. 'They're highly mobile and rare animals, so that makes stock assessment quite difficult,' he said. Like others, Dr McPhee said he was 'extremely surprised' the Queensland government was expanding lethal shark control measures. To mitigate the 'very low' risk posed by sharks, Dr McPhee said all governments would be better off spending tens of millions on researching shark movements and educating humans. 'A very significant component in the government's new plan does have rejigged and re-emphasised education as a part of it, which is a good thing,' he said. 'Individuals need to take some personal responsibility as well.
