Earthquake of 3.6-magnitude hits Blue Mountains area west of Sydney

[JohnS]

If you live in New Zealand, Japan, Mexico or the west coast of the United States or South America, the fact that an earthquake of this strength would make the news in Australia would probably seem an oddity. Australia, as a continent, lies in the centre of a major tectonic plate (and not the edge) and thus doesn't experience earthquakes of great magnitude often. 

Earthquake of 3.6-magnitude hits Blue Mountains area west of Sydney

By Sean Tarek Goodwin

The earthquake took place 9 kilometres beneath the surface, according to Geoscience Australia.(Supplied: Geoscience Australia)

The Blue Mountains area west of Sydney has been shaken by a magnitude-3.6 earthquake on Friday evening.

The earthquake occurred 9 kilometres beneath the surface in the Blue Mountains National Park near Warragamba at about 8:53pm, according to Geoscience Australia.

The agency has received more than 3,000 reports from people who felt the quake.

In a statement, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.

Leura resident Justin Hale said local dogs began barking a couple of minutes before the earthquake hit.

He said the event was over quickly.

"This earthquake was one big jolt ... my computer monitor at the time rocked back and forth, and I thought it was actually going to fall face-first onto the table.

"That's how big it was. But it wasn't sustained, it was one big jolt and then it just rolled off."

Mr Hale's father was also home when it happened.

"He was at the southern side of the house, it just shook violently like a big gust of wind had hit it," he said.

Seismologist Hadi Ghasemi says the quake was widely felt.(Supplied: Geoscience Australia)

The New South Wales State Emergency Service said it hadn't received any reports of damage or calls for help.

Police said in a Facebook post they have been patrolling in the affected areas but had not received any reports of injuries or damage.

"Blue Mountains Police and Nepean Police are receiving a lot of calls from locals who heard a loud bang shortly before 9pm," police said.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hadi Ghasemi said while the quake was widely felt, it was relatively weak. 

"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."

He said the epicentre was in the Blue Mountains National Park, about 20km south west of Penrith. 

"We know that it was a very shallow event, with a depth less than 10 kilometres and a magnitude of 3.6."

In the past 100 years there have been 98 shocks within a 100km radius of the same epicentre, 10 of those have recorded a magnitude of three or more, according to Mr Ghasemi.

Source: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-03-08/nsw-earthquake-3-6-magnitude-blue-mountains-area/103567618

[JohnS]

This one last night was pretty close to @Fuzz's place. I wanted to reassure everyone that I'm fairly sure he's okay! 👍 

Someone did report, via Facebook, that a chair in their backyard fell over...

[yossie]

3.6 is pretty ordinary here, for better or worse..

[Odessa]

Almost no one is paying attention to 3.6 magnitude earthquake in Northern California. 🙂

[Fuzz]

Approx 8 mins after the earthquake, I heard about it from a friend who lives near Penrith, who asked if anyone else felt it. I felt nothing in my area. Could be I felt nothing because I was also drinking at the time...

[Dave O)))]

I live in the Blue Mtns, didn't feel a thing. Wouldn't have had a clue if it wasn't for all the posts on FB. Maybe I had the hifi up too loud at the time 😁