Latest news with #PhilCummins
News.com.au
24-05-2025
- Science
- News.com.au
Western NSW residents shake through 5.2 magnitude earthquake
An earthquake has shaken parts of western NSW in the early hours of Saturday morning, but some are reporting the event could be felt hours away from the epicentre. Geoscience Australia confirmed a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck just after 2.30am in a remote part of Orana region, about 160 kilometres southeast of Bourke. The initial quake was followed seven minutes later by a magnitude 4.2 aftershock and another magnitude 3.6 tremor was also felt around 5.30am. The shocks continued throughout the day with a magnitude 3.0 at 11.46am and magnitude 3.5 at 1.03pm. Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Phil Cummins said any aftershocks felt in the NSW region is following a normal pattern. 'As far as we can tell this is all part of a normal aftershock sequence and therefore expect the earthquakes to decrease in frequency and magnitude,' he said. The senior seismologist said a number of people in western NSW are feeling the effects of the shock. 'It was widely felt, getting over 260 reports, ranging as far as Orange and Dubbo,' he said While Australia sits in the middle of a tectonic plate, meaning it is less likely to get an earthquake, the continent can still experience earthquakes. Local residents took to the Geoscience Australia Facebook page to discuss the impact of the earthquake. One person living in Forbes said they 'felt my floor vibrate last night twice about 10 minutes apart, though there was something under my house.' A second person said 'my dogs woke me up whining and my daughter was awake and felt the bed shake in Coonamble after a house rattle beforehand.' While another reported saying they 'felt nothing in Narromine, slept straight through it.' A fourth person working in the mines also reported that they did not feel the shock. 'Working underground at Peak Gold Mines Cobar last night l didn't fill a thing or ground movements.' Any members of the public who feel the impact of an earthquake are encouraged to lodge a felt report at Geoscience Australia.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
‘Widely felt': Earthquake rattles NSW
An earthquake has shaken parts of western NSW in the early hours of Saturday morning, but some are reporting the event could be felt hours away from the epicentre. Geoscience Australia confirmed a magnitude 5.2 earthquake struck just after 2.30am in a remote part of Orana region, about 160 kilometres southeast of Bourke. The initial quake was followed seven minutes later by a magnitude 4.2 aftershock and another magnitude 3.6 tremor was also felt around 5.30am. The shocks continued throughout the day with a magnitude 3.0 at 11.46am and magnitude 3.5 at 1.03pm. Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Phil Cummins said any aftershocks felt in the NSW region is following a normal pattern. 'As far as we can tell this is all part of a normal aftershock sequence and therefore expect the earthquakes to decrease in frequency and magnitude,' he said. The senior seismologist said a number of people in western NSW are feeling the effects of the shock. 'It was widely felt, getting over 260 reports, ranging as far as Orange and Dubbo,' he said While Australia sits in the middle of a tectonic plate, meaning it is less likely to get an earthquake, the continent can still experience earthquakes. Local residents took to the Geoscience Australia Facebook page to discuss the impact of the earthquake. One person living in Forbes said they 'felt my floor vibrate last night twice about 10 minutes apart, though there was something under my house.' A second person said 'my dogs woke me up whining and my daughter was awake and felt the bed shake in Coonamble after a house rattle beforehand.' While another reported saying they 'felt nothing in Narromine, slept straight through it.' A fourth person working in the mines also reported that they did not feel the shock. 'Working underground at Peak Gold Mines Cobar last night l didn't fill a thing or ground movements.' Any members of the public who feel the impact of an earthquake are encouraged to lodge a felt report at Geoscience Australia.
Daily Mail
23-04-2025
- Climate
- Daily Mail
Why Australians are being warned to expect more earthquakes
Aftershocks are expected from an earthquake that shook residents awake along a stretch of Australia's east coast. The quake struck at 2.55am on Wednesday near Singleton in the NSW Hunter Valley about 200km north of Sydney, Geoscience Australia seismologists said. Its magnitude was initially read at 5.1 and later revised to 4.6. No injuries have been reported as a result of the tremor. The NSW State Emergency Service received several phone calls from concerned residents but only reported responding to one incident. That was at a Rutherford property near Maitland that required sandbags for a burst water pipe shortly after 3am. The tremor was felt between Port Macquarie and Wollongong, Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Phil Cummins said. Sydneysiders are among more than 3500 people who reported feeling the earthquake by 7.45am, according to Geoscience Australia's website. 'It's been widely felt ... some of (the reports) were moderate and strong shaking,' Professor Cummins said. While Australia didn't have an active tectonic plate boundary like in New Guinea or New Zealand, stress from other boundaries slowly built up to the interior of the plate, eventually causing faults to fail, Prof Cummins said. 'They just fail at a much lower rate than they would where near tectonic plate boundaries, where the strain rates are much faster,' he said. Hunter MP Dan Repacholi was woken by the tremor and said his team was on the ground to help with any damage. 'Well that was a bit of a rude awakening ... (I) reckon most of the Hunter would've felt that shake,' he wrote on Facebook. One Newcastle resident said the shaking frightened her to the point she thought someone was trying to break into her house. 'My bed lifted off the floor and the wardrobe doors were rattling ... at least I didn't imagine it,' she wrote on Facebook. Preliminary information indicated the quake occurred at a shallow depth of 10km. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake posed no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories. But Prof Cummins said aftershocks were expected. 'They'll probably be smaller, but some of them may be felt, and that may continue for a few days or even a week or more,' he said. The largest ever earthquake recorded in Australia was a 6.6-magnitude quake that struck Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in January 1988. The Tenant Creek earthquakes of 1989 are still producing aftershocks, 35 years after the event. The 7.2 to 8 magnitude New Madrid earthquakes in the eastern part of North America were still believed to be providing aftershocks more than two centuries later, Prof Cummins said.
