‘Bit rattled and shocked’: Hunter Valley residents recount 4.8 magnitude earthquake

Experts are reporting a 4.8 magnitude quake occurred north of Sydney around midday on Friday, with residents now sharing their accounts.

Images showing damage in the Hunter Valley region have emerged after a rare earthquake struck the area on Friday.

Geoscience Australia reports a 4.8 magnitude quake was recorded near Muswellbrook at a depth of 10 km.

People have taken to social media claiming to have felt tremors in Newcastle, on the Central Coast, Sydney and Wollongong.

An earthquake recorded in northern NSW about midday on Friday.

Dr Zac Seidler took to X, formerly Twitter, to report his office moving around 12:05pm.

“Was there just an #earthquake in Sydney, or did my building just shake for fun?!” he asked.

Muswellbrook South Public School posted a message to parents on Facebook about 12.19pm, saying: “Staff and students have safely evacuated to our top oval awaiting further instruction.”

Another school, St James’ Primary, posted: “We are all OK” but asked parents to come and collect their children.”

“We have no power so if you can please come and get your kids,” the post read.

Muswellbrook Shire Council said it was expected power outages in parts of the area would be returned on Friday afternoon.

“Parts of Muswellbrook may be without water, including Woodland Ridge and potentially areas of Eastbrook Links,” it said.

Local store Mitre 10 Muswellbrook also posted to the social media platform showing stock that had fallen from the shelves.

“Well, that was epic wasn’t it?!” the caption read. “We hope everyone across the community is OK!”

A local store showed the impact. Picture: Lavis Mitre 10 Muswellbrook/Facebook

Tremors were felt far and wide. Picture: Lavis Mitre 10 Muswellbrook/Facebook

Another local resident, Dean Reid, shared an image of a partially collapsed ceiling at the town’s Aldi store this afternoon.

“I literally thought I had imagined it (the earthquake) until I walked into Aldi and part of their roof has fallen down,” he wrote.

In another picture, he showed the remains of a smashed brick chimney that had fallen from a roof.

Mr Reid said he was in parked his car when it began to “rock back and forth”, adding it took some time to register what had happened.

“I thought I imagined it,” he said.

He said people in the town were “a bit rattled and shocked”, and some buildings were evacuated.

The shopping centre, Muswellbrook Fair, has told customers it was open for normal trade apart from The Reject Shop.

That store remains closed after reports its roof collapsed during the shock.

The NSW State Emergency Service said there had been 11 calls for assistance, all of which came from the Muswellbrook and Maitland areas.

There have been reports of minor damage in both towns, a spokesperson said.

The SES was making proactive calls to dam owners in the local area to ensure the integrity of those water bodies.

A 1.45pm statement from NSW Police said there have been no injury reports.

Damage reported inside the Muswellbrook Aldi store. Picture: Facebook/Dean Reid

The remnants of a chimney. Picture: Dean Reid/Facebook

Mapping from the earthquake warning service Global Quake suggests tremors could have travelled throughout the state and reached Queensland and Victoria.

It has been reported tremors were felt in the western NSW town of Dubbo – located about 256km from the epicentre.

Anna Edwards posted pictures on X of cracked cornices at her father’s home in Scone, located about 25km north of Muswellbrook.

“Well that was the first time I’ve really felt an earthquake!! The house shook, the walls cracked. Wild!” she wrote.

Ms Edwards added in a separate comment: “It was scary, honestly. The noise was crazy.”

Adam Pascale, a seismologist at the Seismology Research Centre said the earthquake occurred about 5km east of Muswellbrook at 12.01pm.

He said it was the largest in the area since 1994, and aftershocks were being recorded “every few minutes”.

“Magnitude 4.8 is pretty significant, so it’s going to be felt in a large area,” he said.

“Given the number of aftershocks (so far), I’d expect them to continue for weeks or months.”

The proposed tremor radius as shown by Global Quake. Picture: Global Quake

Mr Pascale said the largest aftershock recorded so far was a magnitude 2.7 about 12:15pm.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there was no tsunami threat after the event.

The quake was recorded as having a magnitude of 4.8 on the United States Geological Survey website.

According to the Australian Climate Service, there are about 100 earthquakes of magnitude 3 or above annually.

Earthquakes are rarer on the Australian continent as they are located in the middle of a tectonic plate, known as an intraplate setting.

Events above magnitude 5.0 occur only every one to two years on average – with one of the most notable being the Newcastle earthquake of 1989, which killed 13 people.