The largest earthquake to hit parts of New South Wales’ Hunter region in 50 years may have been caused by coal mining in the area, a geophysicist has said.
The magnitude 5.0 quake struck the town of Denman at 12.02pm on Friday, prompting thousands of reports of shaking over the next hour, including from people in Sydney, about 106 miles (171km) to the south.
It was the strongest quake to hit the region in 50 years, but smaller than the 5.4 magnitude quake that struck Newcastle, 117km to the east, in 1989, which killed 13 people and destroyed hundreds of buildings.
Friday’s quake caused no major damage to infrastructure or buildings and there were no reports of injuries, police said.
The NSW State Emergency Service said 11 calls had been received about minor damage to homes and reports of minor damage to infrastructure in the nearby towns of Maitland and Muswellbrook.
According to the SES, the dams in the area have not been affected.
Unverified social media posts showed stock falling to the floor of a hardware store in Muswellbrook and cracks in the wall of a house in the town, believed to have been caused by the earthquake.
According to Stuart Clark, a geophysicist at UNSW, the quake was the largest of six to hit the area, a major coal mining region, in the past 50 years.
A magnitude 5.0 earthquake has been reported near Denman, NSW – Australians living hours away in Sydney felt tremors
According to UNSW geophysicist Stuart Clark, the earthquake was caused by compression forces, but the trigger may have been coal mining (pictured, a coal truck in Muswellbrook, NSW).
“It’s slightly smaller than the Newcastle earthquake and there was another one of magnitude 5.3 in 1994,” Associate Professor Clark said.
‘The cause is the compressive forces on the continent, but the possible trigger is coal mining.’
He warned of aftershocks over the next two days, saying there could be “a cluster of aftershocks that are typically somewhat smaller than this one.”
“They don’t have to be hit by major earthquakes, but they could be.”
A resident of Muswellbrook, about 22km south of Denman, described the earthquake as much bigger than ‘just a tremor’.
“The whole house was shaking, and about half a minute later it was shaking again,” the woman said.
Muswellbrook Borough Council Mayor Steven Reynolds said he was in bed when the house shook violently.
“I’ll tell you, I thought the roof was going to come in on me,” Mayor Reynolds said.
You couldn’t miss it, it was big. We have the mine explosions here and I knew right away it wasn’t something like that.
“I thought for sure it was an earthquake and that there could be serious damage.”
Mayor Reynolds said there were three aftershocks in the area.
Lavis Mitre 10 in Muswellbrook posted a photo of items strewn across the aisles after the earthquake hit the town of Denman just after 12pm on Friday
According to the Geoscience Australia website, the earthquake is believed to have occurred at a depth of 10 km and 14 km east of Denman.
The earthquake left an area of South Musswellbrook without power. The power outage was expected to be restored by 2.30pm.
Lavis Mitre 10 in Muswellbrook posted a photo of items strewn across the aisles after the earthquake.
“Now that was epic, huh?!,” was the caption to the photo.
Sydney residents also reported experiencing vibrations.
“My apartment just moved… who else felt it (an earthquake) in Sydney?!,” one person wrote.
‘Was there just an earthquake in Sydney, or did my building just shake for fun?!’
A third said: ‘I just felt a real earthquake in Sydney. The TV on the wall shook, as did the bed I was sitting on. Crazy!’
Residents of New South Wales living closer to the epicentre, in Mudgee and Gulgong (a two-hour drive west of Denman), reported walls and floors shaking.
“Dogs were barking… they were scared shitless,” someone posted.
The remains of a chimney that collapsed during the earthquake
Others further west near Dunedoo and someone at Anna Bay, north of Newcastle on the coast, also reported feeling tremors.
Residents of Newcastle’s suburbs also felt the earthquake.
‘Things on my table at Swansea Heads were rattling,’ said one. ‘It didn’t even occur to me that it was an earthquake.’
Muswellbrook South Public School posted a message to parents on Facebook at around 12.19pm, saying: ‘Staff and students have been safely evacuated to our upper oval schoolyard pending further instructions.’
At another school, St James’ Primary, the sign said ‘we’re all ok’ but asked parents to pick up their children.
“We have no power so please come pick up your children,” the message read.