An early morning earthquake in WA’s great southern region has rattled homes as far away as Perth.
The 5.6 magnitude earthquake was recorded at a depth of 5km by Geoscience Australia at 5.34am on Sunday.
Multiple social media reports confirm the tremors were felt as far away as Perth.
The epicentre was in the small WA town of Gnowangerup, located between Katanning and Albany.
The news follows a slightly smaller earthquake in Wagin, a Wheatbealt town just over 100km from Gnowangerup, in January 2022.
That quake recorded a magnitude of 4.7.
At the time, Wagin shire president Phillip Blight said locals felt a rumble like a big truck driving past.
“(The rumble) built up and was sustained enough to know it was an earthquake,” he said.
WA’s biggest recorded earthquake took place in 1968, when a 6.9 magnitude quake rocked the tiny Wheatbelt town of Meckering.
Homes were destroyed and roads buckled in that quake, with the resulting damage eventually forcing a large proportion of the town’s small population to live elsewhere.
More to come.