Tremors felt across south-east as earthquake strikes north of Brisbane

Queensland’s south-east has recorded its largest onshore earthquake in 50 years, with a magnitude 5.6 quake north of Brisbane on Saturday morning causing tremors, power outages, public transport delays and minor damage across the region.

The quake – at a depth of 10 kilometres – struck at 9.50am near Wrattens National Park at Kilkivan, about 200 kilometres north-west of Brisbane in the Gympie region, according to Geoscience Australia.

More than 10,000 “felt reports” were received by the agency within an hour, from as far north as Cairns and as far south as Sydney, agency seismologist Michelle Salmon said.

“This is the largest earthquake we’ve had onshore in Queensland for 50 years, there has been one larger earthquake, but that was offshore near Bowen,” Salmon said.

Energy retailer Ergon said unplanned power outages affected almost 12,000 customers around the Goomeri and Murgon areas, and between Hervey Bay and Childers – beginning about the time of the quake. Power was restored by afternoon.

Residents as far away as Brisbane described the shaking as “scary” and reported items toppling from shelves, mounted clothes dryers falling from walls, glass shattering, and dogs reacting. Premier David Crisafulli confirmed there had not yet been any reports of injuries.

Sunwater, which manages the Bjelke-Peterson Dam not far from the epicentre, said through a spokesperson that it had inspected all dams within 200 kilometres and found no damage.

“I was sitting on my lounge in New Farm, not far from New Farm Park, when things started to gently rattle. I thought it was a heavy truck driving into the unit complex. It then became more intense, so much so that the TV was literally shaking on its stand,” Adam Meyer told this masthead.

“It lasted all of about 10 seconds.”

Mark Barton and others at Peregian Beach on the Sunshine Coast felt the quake about 85 kilometres away.

“We thought initially there might be some construction work gone wrong,” he said. “Then the vibrations got quite strong, and stronger.

“The windows were rattling and the whole house was shaking, not violently but quite noticeably.”

The vibrations went on for about a minute, bringing neighbours onto the street.

“It caused, not panic, but it caused people to be a bit scared,” Barton said.

Trains on all Brisbane lines were also affected, with lingering delays of up to 45 minutes expected after services ran at lower speeds in the quake’s immediate aftermath. Queensland Rail said initial assessments revealed no damage to tracks or rail infrastructure.

The quake would rank among the largest recorded in the state, behind the 6.0 “great Queensland quake” off the coast of Gladstone in 1918.

Gayndah, about 100 kilometres north-west of Saturday’s quake, also recorded a magnitude 6.1 tremor back in 1935, while a 5.8 magnitude earthquake struck off Bowen in the state’s north in 2018.

From the year seismographs started being installed around Queensland’s large dams in 1977 to 2000, more than 110 earthquakes were recorded on average each year.

A 2019 state earthquake risk assessment found the most quake-prone areas spanned a large region from Gladstone, south to the Scenic Rim, and out to the Western Downs.

Australia’s most devastating earthquake struck near the centre of Newcastle in 1989. While only a magnitude 5.6 tremor, it killed 13 people, injured 160, and damaged some 60,000 buildings.

The most intense quakes were a one-day series in 1988 near Tennant Creek, in the Northern Territory, that peaked at magnitude 6.6, according to a 2016 revision of major quakes by Geoscience Australia.

With AAP

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