A powerful earthquake has struck Western Australia’s central Wheatbelt overnight.
The 3.7 magnitude earthquake hit near Wyalkatchem, a rural town about 192km east of Perth, at a depth of 6km at 6.40pm on Thursday.
Tremors continued throughout the early hours of Friday with a 2.2 magnitude earthquake recorded at 2.25am and a 2.9 magnitude quake at 3.50am.
The quakes were felt at depths of 3km and 7km respectively.
Tremors were felt in towns close to the epicentres of the quakes such as South Yelbeni, North Baandee, Kununoppin, and Korrelocking.
GeoScience Australia recorded just two felt reports for the initial quake with no signs of damage to buildings or infrastructure as of yet.
Wyalkatchem had a population of just 358 people in the 2021 Census.
It comes just over a week after a 4.1 magnitude tremor hit near Woods Point, about 180km north-east of Melbourne, at 3.48am on August 7.
The 3.7 magnitude earthquake hit southeast of Wyalkatchem, about 192km east of Perth at about 5.40pm on Thursday, at a depth of 6km
Tremors were felt in towns close to the epicentres of the quakes such as South Yelbeni, North Baandee, Kununoppin, and Korrelocking
GeoScience Australia recorded more than 1,500 ‘felt reports’ with no signs of damage to buildings or infrastructure.
Some Victorians claimed the earthquake ‘woke me up’, with others in the surrounding areas sharing that they too felt the shake.
‘Rattled my windows in Heathmont,’ one person wrote on social media.
‘Felt in Lakes Entrance,’ a second commented.
‘Yep! felt in Danger Ranges… just a light shaking for about 15 seconds,’ a third chimed to which another person replied: ‘Woah, that far out?!’.
The earthquake was the largest to hit the area since June last year, which saw a magnitude 4.7 recorded in Victoria’s alpine region, according to Seismology Research Centre.
The region also saw earthquake activity in September 2021 after recording a magnitude 5.9 tremor.
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