Magnitude 5.1 earthquake strikes Australia; shaking felt in Sydney

A rare magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck New South Wales, Australia, early Wednesday morning, with shaking felt as far as Sydney, according to seismologists. No damage has been reported.

The quake occurred at 2:55 a.m. local time, with its epicenter located in Wollemi National Park. It struck at a preliminary depth of approximately 10 kilometers (6.2 miles), according to data from the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

The epicenter was about 129 kilometers (80 miles) from Sydney and roughly 80 kilometers (50 miles) from the city of Newcastle.

User-submitted reports to the USGS indicated widespread but light shaking, with swaying felt in several areas of Sydney and Newcastle. Moderate shaking was reported closer to the epicenter, including in Singleton and surrounding towns.

“Shaking woke me up, thought it was the cat jumping off the bed quickly. Took a second to realize what it was,” said a Singleton resident in a report submitted to the Euro-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC).

While earthquakes in this region are relatively rare, they are not unprecedented. Notable past events include a magnitude 5.5 earthquake southwest of Sydney in 1973 and a magnitude 5.4 earthquake that struck directly beneath Newcastle in 1989.

The 1989 Newcastle earthquake resulted in 13 fatalities and caused significant damage to thousands of homes and buildings. It remains one of the most severe natural disasters in Australian modern history.