NSW residents say earthquake near dam sounded like an ‘explosion’

Residents in southern New South Wales described a magnitude-2.9 earthquake near Blowering Dam as sounding like a loud explosion. Barney Hyams, in the town of Batlow, reported hearing a "loud boom" and feeling the ground move.

"I was just talking to some guys up the road and we just heard a loud boom and the whole building actually moved," Hyams said. "You could feel the ground underneath you sort of moving. We couldn't determine whether it was an explosion or an earth tremor."

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I was just talking to some guys up the road and we just heard a loud boom and the whole building actually moved. You could feel the ground underneath you sort of moving. We couldn't determine whether it was an explosion or an earth tremor.

Geoscience Australia confirmed the event was a magnitude-2.9 earthquake centered in Tumut, approximately 30 minutes from Batlow. The agency's website received 34 reports of tremors. While no damage was reported, Hyams expressed concern about the proximity of the earthquake to the Blowering Dam wall.

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At the epicentre of it, which was only about probably 5 kilometres from our property, is reasonably close to Blowering Dam wall. It's pretty scary when you have an earthquake near a major dam wall like that.

Blowering Dam is one of the largest inland dams in New South Wales, crucial for irrigation across the Riverina region. A WaterNSW spokesperson, Tony Weber, assured that the concrete dam is designed to withstand seismic activity well beyond what was experienced. Weber added that initial tests showed the impact scale was 3, which is considered too low to warrant immediate inspections.

"If there was rattling on your shelf or [items] falling off your shelf at [a measurement of] 5 or above, in that case we would have said, 'Let's drop everything and do some inspections,'" Weber explained.

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These dams are designed to withstand seismic activity well in excess of what was experienced at Tumut and at the site of Blowering.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate noted that the region has a history of small earthquakes of similar magnitude. He mentioned a magnitude-2.5 earthquake in 2022 and others in 2014 and 2007. Australia experiences over 100 magnitude-3 earthquakes annually, making the frequency in NSW not unusual. Bathgate also confirmed that the loud "explosion" sound experienced by locals is a common phenomenon during such short, sharp jolts along fault lines.

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If there was rattling on your shelf or [items] falling off your shelf at [a measurement of] 5 or above, in that case we would have said, 'Let's drop everything and do some inspections.'