‘Loud boom’ heard as magnitude 2.9 earthquake rocks town of Batlow in NSW’s Snowy Mountains region
The town of Batlow in the Snowy Mountains region of NSW was hit by a 2.9 magnitude earthquake and locals reported hearing a “loud explosion” at the time.
A small earthquake occurred around 13:00 on Sunday.
Dozens of people reported tremors to Geoscience Australia, the government agency responsible for monitoring earthquakes.
The epicenter of the earthquake was recorded near the city of Tumut and its magnitude was measured as 2.9.
A second magnitude 3 earthquake also occurred in Broken Hill on Sunday night.
Geoscience Australia confirmed it had received 34 reports from members of the public experiencing shaking due to the seismic event.
Jonathan Bathgate, a senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, said a number of earthquakes of similar magnitude had occurred in the region in the past few years.
“It’s an area that has a history of some small earthquakes of this magnitude,” he said.
“This is a brief movement along the fault, resulting in a short, sharp jolt and explosion, depending on atmospheric conditions, which are reflected from low cloud and appear louder.
“Because their duration is so short, it just comes off as a loud bang and there is no ongoing shaking or rumbling like there is with larger earthquakes.”
The agency’s data shows NSW experienced 62 earthquakes last year and 777 in the past decade.
Water bosses moved quickly to allay fears that local infrastructure, including the Blowering Dam, could be compromised by the quake.
“These dams are designed to withstand much greater seismic activity than has been experienced at the Tumat and Blowering site,” WaterNSW spokesman Tony Webber told the ABC.
He added that this particular earthquake was well below the threshold that would trigger an immediate inspection of the dam.
