Earthquake rocks homes in Blue Mountains

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit western Sydney and the Blue Mountains area on Friday night, with more than 2,000 people feeling the tremor.

A 3.6 magnitude earthquake hit western Sydney and the Blue Mountains on Friday night.

The shallow quake hit Penrith, Cranebrook and towns in the Blue Mountains, shaking houses at around 8.53pm.

According to Geoscience Australia, the earthquake occurred 9 kilometres beneath the surface in the Blue Mountains National Park near Warragamba.

Around 2,000 residents reported the earthquake after feeling the tremor.

In a statement, the Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no tsunami threat to Australia.

The NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) also confirmed the quake.

The RFS confirmed the earthquake after reports from residents.

Speaking to the Daily Telegraph, tradie Alex Carpenter said he heard a loud band as he felt his house in south Penrith shaking.

“The house shook for about a second and stopped,” he said.

“I raced outside because I thought someone had had an accident.

“My next thought was earthquake.”

Aerial view of the township of Leura in The Blue Mountains where the quake was felt.

Another western Sydney resident said: “The entire house shook here in Emu Heights, we didn’t know what was going on.

“Neighbours were calling out to each other, they couldn’t believe it was an earthquake.”

According to one earthquake monitoring website the quake had a “very shallow depth of 8.7km” meaning it was felt more strongly near the epicentre.

Justin Hale, who lives in Leura, told the ABC that dogs could be heard barking a few minutes before the earthquake hit.

“It sounded like a convoy of semitrailers coming down the road from the north and then by the time it got close to us, I realised, that’s not semitrailers, and that’s when it hit,” Mr Hale said.

“This earthquake was one big jolt ... my computer monitor at the time rocked back and forth, and I thought it was actually going to fall face-first onto the table.

“That’s how big it was. But it wasn’t sustained, it was one big jolt and then it just rolled off.”