TALK about excitement generated by the earthquake near Singleton on the early morning of Wednesday 23 April.
A number of people I had never met previously were in avid conversation with other locals at the shops in Tea Gardens.
Different experiences were felt by caravanners and campers near Pindimar and Jimmys Beach to those of us in bed at home, but everyone had an experience to share of that 3am event.
It was my first experience of an earthquake, despite my 40 years working in a number of locations overseas where these events are part of everyday life.
Quakes in the Hunter seem to occur on the Hunter-Mooki fault line.
This raises a possible connection between underground coal mining plus the larger open pit operations in the Hunter district as a cause of minor earthquakes.
It is just a connection at this juncture, but an interesting one to ponder.
During the big earthquake event in Newcastle in 1989 where 13 people died, I became aware of a friend’s experience as a regional manager of a major banking group.
He was living in a townhouse close to Newcastle city and woke up in his bed with the complete two-storey brick wall of the complex missing, giving him an uninterrupted view of his suburb.
The epicenter of that event was listed as Boolaroo and was measured at 5.6 on the Richter scale, whereas April’s Singleton quake was a 4.6 scale event whose epicenter was defined as between Singleton and Broke.
Apparently, there have been eleven earthquakes recorded in this general location.
There were reportedly no injuries and no major problems, but it was quite interesting to experience a quake for the first time.
By John BLACKBOURN
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