At 7.09pm, Wednesday, 11th March, a magnitude 4.4 earthquake was felt widely across New South Wales (NSW) and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), with the epicentre being north-east of Boorowa and west of Rugby.
The tremor, which only lasted a few seconds, was the largest quake felt within the area since 1977.
Geoscience Australia Seismologist, Hugh Glanville, said Boorowa and its surrounds are no strangers to earthquakes, contrary to popular belief.
“It is the largest quake in the area, but it has happened before,” he said.
“We’ve had earthquakes, at least 25 in the past few hundred years, that have been a magnitude four or higher.
“This is the largest we’ve had since 1977, when we had a magnitude 4.8 at Bowning that did cause some minor damage.”
At this size, Hugh said minor damage can be expected, ranging from small things (such as plaster cracking and things falling off of shelves) to light damage on structures. It is unknown whether any damage has been recorded from this quake.
Residents are warned to expect potential aftershocks over the coming weeks, with smaller magnitude events expected.
“Of course, there is always the remote possibility that this might be followed by an even larger event, but generally, this will have a standard aftershock sequence,” said Hugh.
For any residents who might feel an earthquake, Hugh said they should duck, cover and hold on.
“Get under a desk, table or mattress and protect yourself from any falling debris, and hold on until the shaking stops,” he said.
“It’s not a good idea to run outside, as falling debris may impact you.”
More than 3600 reports were lodged online for the quake, which hit at a depth of 12km.
Submitting “Felt Reports” to Geoscience Australia is important to monitoring such events and can contribute to further data collection.
“We can use [the data collected] to track both how strongly and how widely earthquakes like this are felt, and that helps us model the future damage and shaking from earthquakes,” said Hugh.
Within the past 20 years, 346 earthquakes have been recorded from within 100km of Boorowa. According to Hugh, the quake itself was a common occurrence.
“Earthquakes themselves are quite common in these areas; this is just a little larger than the usual earthquakes in this region,” he said.
Earthquakes occur when rocks deep within the Earth’s surface break and rub against one another. The tremors are caused by the energy that travels through the earth when the rock breaks. These breaks form along fault zones (where fractures already exist).
Australia’s worst recorded earthquake occurred in 1988 in Tennant Creek, Northern Territory (NT), where a magnitude 6.6 earthquake was felt. No injuries or deaths were reported, although significant damage had been inflicted on the local hospital.
No area within the world is immune to earthquakes, although they are most commonly felt and seen in areas around tectonic plate boundaries, such as New Zealand, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea, Japan and the Americas.
Australia is considered a stable continental region, and the 2026 Boorowa earthquake was classed as an intraplate earthquake (of shallow depth and one that does not follow an easily recognisable pattern).
The tectonic plate that Australia sits on is the fastest-moving continental land mass on Earth, and collisions with the Pacific plate (to the north and east), and the Eurasian plate (to the northwest), can generate stress on the interior.
For residents, the short tremor shook windows and houses, and some recorded a loud screeching sound that sounded similar to a truck roaring past.
A smaller 2.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded in Cootamundra at 7.33pm on Saturday, March 7, with a depth of almost five kilometres. Minor tremors may have been felt in Junee, Gundagai and Young, although due to the weak statistics recorded, it is highly unlikely.
Water NSW were dispatched on March 12 to conduct precautionary tests at Wyangala and Burrinjuck dams to ensure no undiagnosed “seepage” of water occurred.
Both dams were built to withstand activity such as this, and the checks were carried out as a precaution only. No damage was recorded.
Elizabeth Kovacs
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