Earthquake tremors continue to rock the New South Wales Mid North Coast amid fears the biggest one is yet to come.
More than 40 tremors have hit the area since January 19, with six reported since a 4.2 magnitude earthquake struck Coffs Harbour on Wednesday.
The most recent reported tremor was at 11.31am on Thursday near Macksville.
Earthquakes have been rocking New South Wales. Business The Industrial Revolution in South West Rocks had a ski fly off the wall, knocking glass and China off the shelf
There have been no reports of damage from the latest minor tremors.
‘They can all be described as earthquakes no matter how small they are,’ Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Phillip Cummins told the ABC.
‘I should point out that the ones we locate have to be big enough to be recorded at several stations. But there are actually many more smaller quakes occurring.’
Scientists don’t know what makes the smaller earthquakes cluster in space.
‘We really can’t say why the earth chose this particular time and this particular place to increase the seismic activity,’ Professor Cummins told the ABC.
‘They’re still a bit mysterious.’
People are urged to take cover, hold onto something and stay where they are in the event of a major quake.
‘The thing with an earthquake is there’s nothing to tell you that it is coming and then we do have to consider the secondary phase of an earthquake which could be a tsunami,’ Local Emergency Operations controller Superintendent Paul Fehon told the ABC.
Residents reported tremors that felt ‘like a semi-trailer hitting’ and cracks appeared in some homes and businesses in South West Rocks and Wauchope when the biggest earthquake .
Wednesday’s quake hit at a depth of 10 kilometres and was felt as far as Nambucca Heads, Port Macquarie and Armidale.
Residents reported tremors that felt ‘like a semi-trailer hitting’ and cracks appeared in some homes in South West Rocks and Wauchope
Geoscience Australia released a statement saying it’s not unusual to get a swarm of earthquakes when stresses exceed the strength of the rock.
They also said a larger quake couldn’t be discounted.
‘There is no way of predicting earthquakes or if we will have anymore bigger or smaller,’ they said.
‘There to date has been no injuries or damage as a result of earthquakes.’
The Industrial Revolution, a business in South West Rocks, posted the damage the quake caused to their business.
Other businesses also reporter damage in the biggest quake to hit the region in recent days
‘Ski flew off the wall, knocking glass and China off the shelf,’ their Facebook page said.
‘My heart is still racing. South West Rocks is definitely earthquake central this week!’
Other people took to Facebook to share experience, with some unsure of what they felt.
‘Just experienced a tremor from an earthquake,’ said one.
Coffs Harbour has been rocked by a 4.2 magnitude earthquake which struck the city at 1.28pm on Wednesday
‘Sounded like someone had thrown themselves onto the ground upstairs (a very big and heavy person.’
Another said their whole house was shaking and the rumbling ‘like a 747 plane in my front yard only under my feet’.
‘It went on for a minute I’m sleeping in my car from now on too, at least it has rubber wheels and not a tiled roof. It’s so frightening here now. I’m stocking up on food and water and candles.’
Geoscience Australia released a statement saying it’s not unusual to get a swarm of earthquakes when stresses exceed the strength of the rock.
There could be larger quakes to come for the region, which has had a ‘swarm’ of 36 quakes since Friday
People have reported their walls cracking across different towns in the North Coast