A mild tremor was felt as far away as Sydney and Wollongong following an earthquake near the outskirts of Canobolas State Forest around 8:20 p.m.

The Cadia Gold Mine, situated just a few kilometers from the quake’s epicenter near Panuara, was in close proximity to the seismic activity.

In response, the mine’s operators, Newmont Cadia, issued a statement affirming their dedication to safe and responsible mining practices.

“Our monitoring systems detected seismic activity in the area at approximately 8:20 p.m., and our safety protocols were successfully activated to protect our team,” the statement read.

No significant problems have been reported by emergency services in the vicinity.

According to Geoscience Australia, the earthquake occurred at a depth of five kilometers.

GA senior seismologist Dr Phil Cummins said it was a large earthquake for the area.

“The list of earthquakes recorded within 50 kilometres of that location shows one that was magnitude 4.3 in 2017 and a couple more that were 3.5 to 3.8 in that same area,” he said.

“So that’s not very many. That’s about five earthquakes since 1977 so it’s not a place of elevated seismicity, and it’s the largest earthquake ever felt in that area.”

Close to 2000 people reported feeling the shaking by 10pm.

“Our seismometers give us the location and sort of the physical size of the earthquake, but that doesn’t really tell us how strong the shaking can be,” Cummins said. 

“It gives us some idea, but doesn’t give us an accurate picture of how strong the shaking is. 

“So getting those felt reports really tells us how strong the shaking is and helps us estimate how strong the shaking might be in future earthquakes.”

Cummins said the earthquake was probably over very quickly in this instance but in case of strong shaking people should “duck below something that will protect you from any falling objects and and hold on”.

He said aftershocks would not be surprising but they would tend to be smaller than the initial shake. 

A dog trainer in Mudgee, about 100 kilometres north-east of the epicentre, shared the effect the shaking had on her pet.

“One of our dogs felt something as she got up and looked towards the floor worried about something underneath her, I thought she was going to have some sort of turn and then she settled,” she said, on Facebook.

“She is old and very sensitive to noise and vibration, we humans didn’t feel anything.”

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