West Wimmera residents had a shaky afternoon on Thursday, October 12, as an earthquake rippled across the region.
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The State Emergency Service reported a magnitude 3.4 earthquake near Kaniva at 1:59pm.
According to Geoscience Australia, the nation's peak body, the earthquake originated about 10km underground.
![A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded near Kaniva at 1:59pm on Thursday, October 12. Pciture supplied A magnitude 3.4 earthquake was recorded near Kaniva at 1:59pm on Thursday, October 12. Pciture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/ben.fraser/c4787fda-aab9-4003-afe9-3e000b78ed5c.jpg/r0_0_1708_1118_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Fortunately, no injuries or damage has been recorded at this time.
The last significant quake in the Wimmera was in Glenorchy on January 15, 2021, when a 3.5 magnitude earthquake woke residents before 8am.
In 2021, Geoscience Australia Senior Seismologist Phil Cummins said while the earthquake was unusual it was not something the community should be worried about.
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"Earthquakes like this can happen anywhere in Australia and they can happen due to the gradual increase in stress in the Earth's crust and this can be transmitted from great distances, from even New Zealand and Papua New Guinea," he said.
"This pressure slowly builds up, and when the stress exceeds the strength, the fault will rupture and this can cause and earthquake.
"Mining can possibly cause an earthquake because as they dig out mines, this can result in changes in stress levels which can trigger earthquakes.
"But it's just as likely that this just occurred due to a natural build up in stress."
For more information visit https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au.
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