By JOLENE OGLE
THE magnitude 5.2 earthquake that shook Noosa Shire this morning was felt throughout the coast from Gympie Terrace right down to Mooloolaba.
An office worker, whose office is based on the fifth floor of a building in Mooloolaba said he felt his desk shake for about 10 seconds
“It wasn’t much, but we all felt it,” he said.
A Star News Groups employee based in Tweed Heads felt the shake for about five seconds, while the Noosa Today office also shook with staff reporting about a 15 second episode.
Deputy local controller for the Noosa SES Carol Watkins said there have been no call out and checks of the SES sheds by group leaders revealed no damage to equipment.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake epicentre was offshore from eastern Queensland, about 100km from Fraser Island and at a depth of 30kms.
The Bureau of Meteorology has said there is no risk of a tsunami and police minister Jo-Ann Miller has said there are no reports of damage.
On Facebook, Julie Wood said she lives at Mt Cotton in Redlands and her whole house shook.
“My whole house was shaking, windows, my fridge was making (a) weird noise because of it moving,” she said.
Alida Lindeman said she felt the floor wobble a little in Maroochydore, while Kate Mawson reported there was no shaking at Noosa Civic.
Even the Nambour Community Centre in Nambour felt the tremors with the office manager Donna Holdom reporting she saw a partition shake in the office.
“I thought it was someone leaning against it or something and we just couldn’t figure out what it was,” she said. “I’ve never felt anything like that before. It was more that we heard it than we saw anything. We didn’t feel it as we were sitting down.”
Noosa Council has released a statement to advise residents that the Noosa Local Disaster Management Group are on alert following the earthquake.
Local disaster co-ordinator Martin Drydale said the LDMG was monitoring the situation but no immediate threats were expected.
“At this stage there are no tsunami warnings in place, nor aftershocks expected but we will continue to monitor the situation,“ he said.
Mr Drydale said that in the case of significant aftershocks or major earthquakes resulting in severe ground tremors, the advice is to ‘drop, cover, hold on’ – drop to the ground, take cover under a sturdy piece of furniture, and hold on until the shaking stops.
