Earthquake shakes up residents in Tasmania

January 13, 2013 – TASMANIA - Residents on Tasmania’s northern coast have woken to tremors after a 3.4-magnitude earthquake struck 10km from the shore. The earthquake, about 10 to 12 kilometers from Wynyard, hit at 7.21am (AEDT), sending short and sharp tremors to nearby Burnie and as far away as Launceston, said Geoscience Australia seismologist Jonathan Bathgate. Mr. Bathgate said the agency received around 100 calls from residents who felt the tremors. “It’s been fairly widely-felt across that section of Tasmania,” he said. “They generally hear a loud noise and feel a sharp, sudden jolt. “The phones have been just ringing constantly. “I think it woke a few people up.” Mr. Bathgate said it was not uncommon to get earthquakes in the area which experienced a 3.6-magnitude earthquake in 2006 and a 3.8 in 2007. He said an earthquake of this size, and so far from shore, was unlikely to have done any damage and no reports of damage had been received. Burnie resident Lyn Paine said the tremor shook her house for 10 seconds. “I just thought `what the heck is that?” Ms Paine said. “It felt like if a big truck goes past your house. “It wasn’t enough to lose pictures off the wall or anything. “That’s a pretty unusual thing for here – I’ve never experienced it.” A Tasmania police spokesman said they had received calls reporting the tremor but no reports of damage. –The Australian 

Seismologist warns tremors signal larger quakes: Smaller earthquakes in Cowra and surrounds could be a warning for stronger, potentially damaging earthquakes, says a prominent seismologist. Director at the Australian Seismological Centre in Canberra Kevin McCue said a 3.2 magnitude earthquake on Monday night at Frogmore could be a sign of things to come. “This morning a small, shallow, magnitude 3.2 earthquake was recorded on the network at 12 minutes past 3am,” he said. “It was big enough to be quite strongly felt if you were within 10km of the epicenter.” Mr. McCue said that a series of smaller earthquakes could potentially lead to a larger, more serious earthquake with a magnitude 5 or higher. He said earthquakes are often overlooked because damaging events are rare compared to other natural disasters. “We cannot predict earthquakes, but there is a 10 per cent chance of [a one in] 500 year earthquake occurring in any 50 years, the next 50; or similarly that the 100 years earthquake has a 10 per cent chance of occurring in the next 10 years.” Cowra was shaken last year with a magnitude 3.8 with an epicenter 10km north of Boorowa. “I just want to make sure people know these are still happening.” Earthquakes occur when rocks break and move as a result of stresses caused by tectonic plates. However, earthquakes are rare in Australia as it is located in the middle of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate, with no major fault lines running through the country. But Mr McCue said that even though the nearest fault line to the region runs through New Zealand and other island nations in the Pacific Ocean, there are minor fault lines running through Australia. “There are [minor] faults everywhere in Australia,” he said. “Because our continent is so old, there has been plenty of time for these faults to occur.” He said these minor fault lines are caused when the Indo Australian plate rubs alongside the Pacific plate. –CG

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