Gnowangerup: Town hit by 2.2-magnitude earthquake on Thursday close to significant 2023 quake site

A small earthquake hit the Great Southern town of Gnowangerup early on Thursday morning.

The earthquake, which registered a magnitude of 2.2 on the Richter scale, occurred about 2.55am and had a depth of 1.5km.

The nucleus of the earthquake was slightly north-west of the town site, near Tie Line and Eastwood roads.

Gnowangerup shire president Kate O’Keefe said no one in the community had felt the earthquake as far as she was aware, but noted the location was near where residents felt a 5.6-magnitude quake in 2023.

“It’s not far off where a significant one was a couple of years ago,” she said.

“A house was damaged and a number of people had minor damage to their homes (in that one).”

She said the shire’s emergency response manager did not receive any reports.

The incident comes little more than a fortnight after a 2.4-magnitude earthquake hit the Wheatbelt town of Dumbleyung, on October 8.

Geoscience Australia asks anyone who noticed the quake to submit a ‘felt’ report so the organisation can better understand its intensity.

On average, two earthquakes above magnitude 3.0 occur each week somewhere in Australia.

Large quakes, above magnitude 5.0, occur every one or two years in Australia on average.