Did you feel the Earth move on Friday morning in the northern suburbs of Canberra?
That is the question Geoscience Australia is asking on social media platform Twitter after more than 200 residents reported feeling the earthquake in the nation’s capital about 10.05am on Friday.
The government agency reported it to be a magnitude 3.1 earthquake, hitting at a depth of about 10km in the northern suburbs near Forde.
“Whoa, what the hell was that? Felt like a tremor,” posted Tim Kelly from Amaroo in the ACT.
Another wrote: “Apparently Canberra just had a bit of an earthquake. Didn’t make much of an impression in the basement of APH,” referring to parliament house.
The earthquake, 16 years to the day after the Canberra bushfires, comes as the ACT has already endured recording breaking temperatures of above 45 degrees, and massive electrical storms.
Did you feel the Earth move this morning in the northern suburbs of Canberra? At approximately 10:05 am AEDT there was a magnitude 3.1 earthquake near Forde. We have already received almost 200 felt reports. You can complete a felt report online at https://t.co/ggGwAKzGGt #eqaus pic.twitter.com/12F8V8hbyp
— Geoscience Australia (@GeoscienceAus) January 17, 2019
Resident Kerry Sleeman Boudoir said it felt like her house was “going to explode”.
“I felt it OK, I basically nearly jumped out of my seat, felt like the house in Forde (Mulligans Flat) was going to explode!,” she posted on Facebook.
Another local reported feeling her office shake.
Felt #earthquake M3.1 strikes 13 km N of #Canberra (#Australia) 21 min ago. Please report to: https://t.co/vVOOtMfV3Z pic.twitter.com/Kv3vCrdw25
— EMSC (@LastQuake) January 17, 2019
Seismologist Hugh Glanville told ABC Radio at a magnitude of 3.1, the tremor posed no threat to structures or people, but was a relatively rare event in urban Canberra.
“It’s normally a bang and a bit of rattling and a few seconds of shaking that might pass you like a truck or a train coming very close past you,” he said.
“Within 50km of it we’ve had about 100 earthquakes in the past 20 years – we’re averaging about five per year, but in the ACT itself we only rarely feel earthquakes.”
Live News
