Seven earthquakes hit the Bundaberg region over the weekend in two different locations and, thanks to a CQU Bundaberg academic, their trail was traced.

The Bundaberg area is regarded as the most earthquake prone region in Queensland. It has the same hazard rating as Newcastle, with the two largest earthquakes that have ever been recorded on the east coast of mainland Australia - magnitudes 6.2 (1918) and 6.0 (1935) respectively - both occurring in the Bundaberg area. By comparison, the Newcastle quake in 1989, was magnitude 5.4 and resulted in 13 deaths and over $1000 million + in damage.

CQU Bundaberg seismologist Mike Turnbull said the first quake hit at 12:22pm on Saturday 28 June and was 24km south east of the township of Mundubbera. The magnitude 3.0 quake was felt by a number of people in the area.

“One witness described the quake as sounding like an F1-11, coming from the Proston area towards Mundubbera, it made windows and crockery rattle. The dogs were running around and looking for cover, but weren’t barking. Another witness said, the windows moved in and out like they were in slow motion.

“It’s exciting to get an earthquake that people feel. They usually occur in an area of low population and go unnoticed.

Mike wants to hear from anyone in Mundubbera that felt the earthquake as it may help in pin pointing the location.

Between 6:05pm and 6:17pm later that same day, there was a sequence of six smaller earthquakes just south of Gin Gin, building up from a magnitude 0.3 to 1.1 in a series of pre-shocks (no relationship to the Mundubbera event). The sequence was a good example of a build-up to an earthquake.

“These small quakes happen more often that most people are aware of. We simply don’t have sufficient instrumentation to record them,” Mike said.

Earlier in the week, another earthquake was recorded near Toowoomba at Murphy’s Creek. The quake was a magnitude 2.6 and occurred on 24 June just after 2:06am. Many people in the local area felt it.

Whilst all the events occurred in close time frame, otherwise known as clumping, they are unrelated. In the broader scheme of things these quakes aren’t unusual – they simply confirm research carried out by seismologists.

“Neither event over the weekend is unusual in this region – we should have at least one mag 3.0 earthquake in the Wide Bay Burnett on an annual basis – usually we get more. The smaller earthquakes occur on a daily basis regionally but are simply not recorded,” said Mike.