- Two quakes recorded within hours of each other
- Residents report feeling tremors
- Do you know more? Email tips@dailymail.com
An Aussie mining has been rocked by two earthquakes within five hours.
The first 2.9 magnitude earthquake struck Port Hedland in Western Australia’s Pilbara region at 8.44am on Wednesday.
A second 2.8 magnitude tremor was recorded off the coast at 1:20pm.
Geoscience Australia measured the depth of the quake at 10km.
Residents took to social media to reported feeling the tremors from the earthquake.
Some locals said the felt the aftershock as far as Marble Bar, around 200km south of Port Hedland.
The whole house shook in South, went into fight mode,’ one person wrote on Facebook.
‘I felt it here in Marble Bar, two trees across the road came crashing down,’ another person wrote.
The first 2.9 magnitude earthquake struck Port Hedland (pictured) in Western Australia’s Pilbara region at 8.44am on Wednesday
GeoScience Australia senior seismologist Phil Cummins said the probability of tremors being felt in the area was ‘unlikely’.
‘Sometimes people might be mistaken. They might have felt something around that time and maybe it’s actually something different,’ Mr Cummins told the North West Telegraph.
‘Sometimes they might be in a structure that’s particularly vulnerable to the swaying that earthquake waves might cause.’
Geoscience Australia has urged residents to report any tremors they felt from the quake through their website.
More than 60 reports have been made to the website of the government agency so far.
A second 2.8 magnitude tremor was recorded off the coast of the area at 1:20pm
The latest quake comes after two earthquakes hit areas near Portland Headland last month.
A 3.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 4.49am on December 4 at Pippingarra and a 3.2 magnitude quake was stuck Newman, around 450km south of Port Hedland at 11.05am.
Residents in the area at the time reported hearing what sounded like a large explosion.
Mr Cummins explained that earthquakes are not uncommon in the Pilbara region and they have increased in frequency over the years.
A large magnitude 5.6 quake struck the area east of Port Hedland in 1961 while the western part of the region was hit by a magnitude 5.0 quake in 1970.
Mr Cummins dismissed suggestions that the earthquakes in the area could be caused by mining activities and operations.
The latest quake comes after two earthquakes hit areas near Portland Headland (pictured) in December last year including a magnitude 3.6 magnitude earthquake that struck Pippingarra
‘It’s always possible that some kind of activity like that might alter the stress field and trigger an earthquake, but I don’t see any direct evidence for that,’ he said.
More to come.
