SA earthquake: Adelaide rattled by earthquake measuring 2.7

Adelaide experienced a small earthquake, measuring 2.7, on Friday. The tremor, which struck at 12:24 p.m., comes after nine days when the city experienced a relatively larger quake.

Friday’s earthquake was centred at Seacombe Heights, in the southern suburbs between Glen St and Bleasdale Ave. Although Geoscience Australia estimated the depth of the quake at 20 kilometres, it later revised its calculation to 13 kilometres. However, the agency could not clarify how much area was impacted by the earthquake.

Friday’s earthquake comes on the heels of a 3.7-magnitude tremor that rattled the city minutes after midnight on Feb. 2. The quake – centred at Murray Bridge, southeast of Adelaide – struck at a depth of eight kilometres. According to Geoscience Australia seismologist Hugh Glanville, people living as far as 100 kilometres felt the tremors from the event. Seismologists warned residents of the possibility of aftershocks following the earthquake.

As reported by AAP (via Yahoo 7), Feb. 2’s earthquake was the second strongest seismic event to have rattled the area in the last 10 years. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that it caused any damage. The strongest earthquake, measuring 3.8, struck in 2010.

Earlier this month, three earthquakes were experienced in regional South Australia. Two of these rattled around Burra on Feb. 6 and one shook the area near Hawker on Feb. 4.

Seventy-year-old John Chelo, a resident from Happy Valley, said his house shook from Friday’s earthquake. “There was an enormous bang like a volcano was going off,” Chelo said, speaking with the Advertiser. “The house really shook, even the neighbour said their house shook as well. I’ve got my niece here and she thought something exploded in the house.”

Adelaide experienced its strongest earthquake in 1954. The seismic event, measuring 5.5, did not cause any loss of life.