Magnitude 4.5 quake near Muswellbrook part of 'quake swarm' to hit NSW Hunter region | NSW

A 4.5-magnitude earthquake struck the Hunter region of New South Wales early Saturday morning, two weeks after a similar quake struck the area.

The Australian Geoscience Service told The Guardian Australia that the quake was part of an “earthquake swarm” in the region: a series of medium to large earthquakes with their own sequences of aftershocks.

The latest quake struck near Muswellbrook, 125 kilometres northwest of Newcastle, just before 6am on Saturday, with more than 1,000 reports made to Geoscience Australia from those who felt the quake. It was felt as far away as Sydney, as far away as Wollongong, as far north as Tamworth and as far west as Dubbo.

Dr Trevor Allen, senior seismologist at the Australian Geoscience Agency, said the reports would represent only a “small fraction” of the total number of people who felt the quake, which struck 10 kilometres southwest of Muswellbrook.

About 2,500 customers in the local area were initially without power after the quake; by 8.30am, fewer than 200 customers were without power. NSW Police and the State Emergency Service said they had received no reports of injuries or damage to infrastructure on Saturday morning.

Saturday's quake comes two weeks after a 4.8 magnitude quake struck the town of Denman, 25 kilometres away, on August 23. The following day, another 4.5 magnitude quake struck near Muswellbrook.

Allen said more than 30 earthquakes have struck the area since Aug. 23 as part of this quake.

“This is very common in Western Australia, in the wheat belt of south-western Australia, but it's actually very rare in eastern Australia,” he said.

Saturday’s quake was the second largest in the recent series, after a 4.8 magnitude quake in August, Allen said. He said that in the lead-up to this latest quake, there had been a series of smaller quakes, up to magnitude 2.5, indicating that “activity is starting to pick up again in the area.”

While he said it was “impossible” to determine future earthquake activity, he noted there was a “high chance” the region would continue to see earthquakes of this size, “and perhaps a little bit larger in the coming weeks or months.”

He said, however, that it was still “likely” that seismic activity in the area would decrease.

Earthquakes can happen anywhere in Australia, Allen said, as plate boundary forces exert stress on rocks within the Australian crust.

“Over long periods of time, what happens is that stress builds up on a particular fault, and when that stress becomes too great, the rocks will break during an earthquake.”

Where Will Peter Dutton's Nuclear Reactors in Australia Go? – Video

Liddell Power Station, one of seven sites the coalition has proposed for a nuclear power station, is located less than 20 kilometres from Muswellbrook.

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Allen stressed the need to meet a set of criteria set by the International Atomic Energy Agency even before the approval stage for the establishment of a nuclear site.

“These rules are very stringent, especially when it comes to earthquakes,” he said. “A range of geotechnical assessments will have to be carried out, and these assessments will have to satisfy the Australian regulator.” [Arpansa] …that the site is suitable for any type of nuclear facility.

Federal Labor MP for the Hunter, Dan Repacholi, posted on social media on Saturday morning that “the ground shook again, hard.”

One commenter, whose husband works in the Mount Arthur coal mine, said the quake caused panic among workers: “The explosion was huge before everything shook.”

Another social media user said the quake woke them up in Nelson Bay, more than 160 kilometres away. “The quake scared the local possums away and they went flying across the roof like a rocket!” they added.

When a commentator raised the issue of the proposed nuclear site, Repacoli responded: “It seems that those who were talking a lot a few weeks ago are now very quiet on this subject.”

In another comment, the MP noted that the coalition was “reconsidering its plan,” and joked that “the beer serving rule has been modified.”

“Voters in my district are raising their opposition every day to building a nuclear power plant anywhere near me,” Repacholi said on social media last May.

Shadow climate change and energy minister Ted O'Brien told ABC radio last month that if the advice suggested a nuclear plant should not go ahead, “the power plant will not go ahead, period”.

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