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WA to expect aftershocks after 5.6 quake strikes in the South West
By AAP
West Australians face days of aftershocks in the wake of a 5.6 magnitude earthquake in the state's South West.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Phil Cummins said he expected aftershocks "of decreasing magnitude and size" to continue for some time.
The quake struck just before 1pm.Credit: LE RÉSEAU SISMOLOGIQUE DE NOUVELLE-CALÉDONIE
"It is quite a rare event and especially to have it occurred in this place. On the south coast earthquakes are more rare," Professor Cummins said.
Residents in Walpole, near to the quake, may feel aftershocks for days, while those in the immediate vicinity of the quake could even feel the aftershocks for weeks.
The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre detected the earthquake, reported as being centred between Kojonup and Walpole, just before 1pm on Sunday.
The agency had no recorded earthquake above 5.0 magnitude in the immediate area of Sunday's event, Professor Cummins said.
'The building started to move'
Sunday's quake was so strong residents in Perth's metropolitan area reported the tremours.
A staffer at Walpole's Tree Top Walk - a 40 metres-high suspended tourist walkway over the Valley of the Giants -told WAtoday on Sunday people were on the bridged when the earth started to shake.
"I was out the back in the storeroom when I heard this deep rumbling sound. Sort of like a very heavy truck but then the building started to move. It was pretty weird," Lisa, who did not want to provide her last name, said.
"We had some tourists come in who had been picnicking in the carpark. They had heard the same sound and then saw the trees shaking which was pretty amazing."
"We had a couple of tremors over the last few days but this was much bigger."
She said tourists who had completed the walkway were unaware of the quake as the suspended structure "shakes anyway".
Walpole Visitors Centre volunteer Colin Steele said it felt "like a big truck passing very close by" for about five to eight seconds but the building was still standing.
Michael from William Bay, near Denmark, told 6PR radio the quake was so strong, it "shook glasses off the shelves".
"We were lucky to be standing on the ground in the house when it went off and it was quite scary."
"It lasted for about 25 seconds," he said.
Jill Cross from Dardanup in the state's South West said she was worried her home had been damaged.
"We were sitting on the couch and I felt a tremour. I looked down and the couch was moving sideways. Everything was moving and I looked at my husband who was sitting next to me and he was looking up at the light fittings and they were all swaying."
Another caller to 6PR radio from Success, south of Perth, said the quake was so strong it made him "nauseous".
AAP, staff writers