The biggest earthquake to hit Queensland in more than 80 years has given both local residents and travellers in the area a real scare.
No significant damage from the 5.1 magnitude quake – which struck about 25 kilometres from the regional town of Eidsvold – have been reported but aftershocks are continuing.
Associated tremors were felt more than 200 kilomentres away from the epicentre, as far away as the Sunshine Coast in the south and Gladstone in the north.
One Eidsvold station owner, Anthony Coates, describes being jolted from his sleep by what he initially thought was “a stampede of possums across the roof”.
The earthquake – which lasted about 15 seconds – was only the third stronger than magnitude 5 recorded in Queensland since records began, and the largest in the state since 2004.
Seismologist Hugh Glanville told the ABC that the area was riddled with fault lines.
“It was lucky the Eidsvold earthquake occurred in a more remote part of Queensland,” he said, “Magnitude 5 earthquakes are generally damaging earthquakes if the epicentre is below a city or town.”
The earthquake that killed 13 people in Newcastle in 1989 was a magnitude 5.6.
* Did you feel the tremors? What’s the biggest ‘natural’ scare you have had while on the road? Comment below.
It rocked our van in Maryborough and woke us up. We had no idea that it was an earthquake until we heard the news later in the morning. It was the 2nd for us in 3 months as we were in Pakenham, Melbourne in December when they had an earthquake. Now we just have to sit out the cyclone which is heading down the QLD coast – that is probably the scariest natural event in our 8 years of travelling full time.