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ABC News
24-05-2025
- Science
- ABC News
Significant earthquake shakes homes and wakes residents across western NSW
A "significant" earthquake has shaken parts of western New South Wales early on Saturday, in a seismic event felt as far away as Sydney. Geoscience Australia says the magnitude 5.2 quake struck just after 2:30am in a remote part of the Orana region, about 90 kilometres north of Nyngan and 160 kilometres south-east of Bourke. It was followed seven minutes later by a magnitude 4.2 aftershock and another magnitude 3.7 tremor about 5:30am. Senior Seismologist Trevor Allen says hundreds of people have registered feeling the impact on the Geoscience Australia website. "It is a significant earthquake," he said. Dr Allen said, despite the size of the quake, no damage had so far been reported. "Given that most of the felt reports are coming from a fair distance away from the earthquake, most people are reporting relatively light levels of ground shaking — and so we probably wouldn't expect to observe any damage from this event." Followers of the ABC Western Plains Facebook page shared their experience, with hundreds leaving comments. People have reported windows rattling in Condobolin, doors shaking in Walgett, beds squeaking in Bugaldie, wooden ducks falling off shelves in Narrabri and homes creaking in Bingara and Warialda. Some around Trundle say they thought grain trucks were passing nearby, while in Dubbo, sleepers awoke to a rumble that lasted about 30 seconds. Residents reported being woken by it in Wee Waa, while as far away as Maitland, one reported the wardrobe shaking. Another in Dubbo said it shook their home and their dogs and birds "were going bonkers". While Australia sits in the middle of a tectonic plate — far from earthquake-prone plate boundaries — the continent still experiences stress build-up in its ancient, fractured crust, Dr Allen said. "Over time, those stresses build up on existing faults," he said. "Once they become too great, the rocks break — and that's what we see as an earthquake." Western NSW is not known for high seismic activity, with only 12 quakes recorded within 200 kilometres of Saturday's event in the past 25 years. A similar-sized tremor happened in the nearby Coonamble Basin in 1961. Dr Allen said aftershocks could continue for days, or even weeks, but their frequency and strength would probably decline. He urged anyone who felt Saturday's quake to report it on the Geoscience Australia website and to remember earthquake safety advice: "Drop, cover and hold." "The reason we tell people that is because oftentimes it's not necessarily a building or the structure that fails and injures people, it is more often than not non-structural fittings within a building that are the cause of some of the major injuries and fatalities — things like air conditioning ducts, shelving, those sorts of things that can fall and injure people."
ABC News
05-05-2025
- ABC News
Coonabarabran community in shock after death of two boys aged 6 and 7
A small community in north-west New South Wales remains in shock today after two young boys were found dead inside a home at Coonabarabran. Police went to the house yesterday afternoon after receiving a "concern for welfare" report. They discovered the bodies of two boys aged six and seven. A 66-year-old woman who was at the house and who the ABC understands is their grandmother was arrested at the scene and remains in hospital under police guard. 'Devastating for all' The news has rocked the close-knit community. Warrumbungle Shire councillor Kodi Brady posted on his Facebook page that his "heart was broken, alongside the whole community". "Two little firecracker kids," he said. "They were amongst it all 100 miles an hour … and cute as buttons. "So devastating for all." Warrumbungle Shire councillor Kodi Brady said the death of two young boys at Coonabarabran was "devastating for all". ( Supplied: Warrumbungle Shire Council ) At this stage police have not laid any charges in relation to the incident, and say there is no ongoing threat to the community. Homicide squad detectives have been called in to help with the investigation. Coonabarabran, 140 kilometres north-east of Dubbo, has a population of about 2,300. More to come. ABC Western Plains — local news in your inbox Get our local newsletter, delivered free each Friday Your information is being handled in accordance with the Email address Subscribe
