Earthquake leaves region all shook up

The region has shaken on Wednesday, 11 March as Boorowa recorded a magnitude 4.4 earthquake at 7:09pm. Geoscience Australia's Hugh Glanville said this earthquake is the largest they have recorded since 1977 where they recorded a magnitude 4.8 earthquake at Browning. Mr Glanville said the earthquake was large for the area but not unheard of. The 4.4 magnitude earthquake occurred a few kilometres north east of Boorowa at a depth of 8km according to GeoScience Australia. At the magnitude recorded in Boorowa, Mr Glanville said this is where you can start to get some minor damage from earthquakes. "We don't know at this stage, but you can get minor things like plaster cracking, things falling off shelves and light damage to structures," he said. This earthquake was felt very widely across the state, Mr Glanville said, from Albury and up north to Gosford. Locally, there were reports of the earthquake being felt in Grenfell, Cowra, Young and Forbes. Mr Glanville said they expect to see some smaller aftershocks over the coming weeks. Generally, he said, these aftershocks will be smaller in magnitude than Wednesday's earthquake, though there is always a small possibility of a larger event. Over the last 20 years, Mr Glanville said they have recorded 346 earthquakes within 100km, and said while earthquakes are common in the area, Wednesday's was a little bit larger than usual. If people feel an earthquake, Mr Glanville said they should duck, cover and hold on under a desk, table or mattress to protect from falling debris. Mr Glanville said it is not a good Idea to run outside as falling debris may affect you. Geoscience Australia would appreciate your help in encouraging people who felt the earthquake to lodge a felt report at https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au/ As of Thursday, 12 March GeoScience Australia has recorded 7116 reports about the earthquake. Mr Glanville said they can use reports of earthquakes to track how widely and strongly earthquakes are felt and this helps them model the future damage, shaking and extent of shaking from earthquakes. Water NSW undertook precautionary inspections of Wyangala Dam - about 75km away - and found no issues. "Dams are designed to withstand seismic activity well in excess of that experienced last night (Wednesday)," a Water NSW spokesperson said. Inspections continued at Wyangala on Thursday, along with Burrinjuck (Murrumbidgee River) and Carcoar (Belubula River) dams, though the seismic activity was well below the threshold for concern.