Earthquake reported near Kilcoy with tremors felt across Brisbane’s northern suburbs
A 2.9 magnitude earthquake has hit in the Moreton Bay region of South East Queensland, with tremors felt across Brisbane and as far south as the Gold Coast.
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Geoscience Australia has reported a 2.9 magnitude earthquake in the Moreton Bay region with residents across Brisbane’s northern suburbs reporting buildings rattling.
The earthquake hit at Brendale about 1.30pm just 20km north of the Brisbane CBD.
The tremor happened at a depth of 10km.
By 4.45pm, the federal government agency Geoscience Australia had received more than 700 reports from residents between Hervey Bay to the Gold Coast saying they had felt the tremors.
Owner of The Blonde Sunday salon at Petrie, Troy Merker, said clients turned and looked at each other in disbelief when they felt the ground rumbling.
He said he initially thought a large delivery truck had driven across their rooftop car park.
“I could feel almost like a surging, swelling feeling with the sound,” Mr Merker said.
“I looked out the window and there was no truck so I thought I was losing it.
“It was so out-of-the-blue.
“But my clients felt it too and another woman said she thought it could have been an explosion.”
Mr Merker said he had never felt anything like it.
Others took to social media to report houses shaking with many contacting the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) for answers.
“Did anyone else’s house/work in Brisbane just shake/shudder?” one resident posted.
“Brisbane, was that an earthquake just now at 1:30ish?” another asked.
Nell Hancock also felt the earthquake in Burpengary’s east.
“It only lasted a few seconds, but our whole house shook, the windows rattled, and I seriously thought our roof was being blown off in a big wind gust,” she said.
“But then I realised at that particular moment, we had no wind.”
Senior Seismologist at Geoscience Australia Dr Hadi Ghasemi said earthquakes were not unheard of in Queensland’s southeast with eight reported in the past 20 years.
The largest was a 3.1 magnitude earthquake in March 2019, near Gatton.
Slightly weaker earthquakes were recorded near Kilcoy in 2015 and 2016.
Dr Ghasemi said the significant number of felt reports for this earthquake was because of its proximity to a high population of people, being close to the state’s capital.
“It has now been (reported as) felt as far as the Gold Coast,” Dr Ghasemi said.
He said the earthquake initially appeared near Kilcoy, but seismologists refined the data to find its origin was Brendale.
Dr Ghasemi said the earthquake was caused by built up stress in the land resulting from the Australian Plate pushing against the Eurasian Plate.
At this stage the BOM advised it was not yet aware of any earthquakes and said buildings could be rattling due to wind.
Residents across the southeast said they felt the earthquake from Kunda Park on the Sunshine Coast, down to Ipswich and Alexandra Hills.
Some took to social media after the quake hit, with some residents reporting strong vibrations and even damage to personal belongings.
“Well that explains what I felt at Burpengary. It felt like something had hit the house and I felt the house vibrate … thought a truck had hit our house.” Michele Parsons wrote on Facebook.
“Omg felt this loud tremor under our floor..thought it was just the wind as a large terracotta pot fell over and smashed..at Samford! (sic),” Diana Flowers said.
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