Magnitude 4.9 earthquake reported south of Adelaide

Residents across Adelaide reported shaking and rattling after an earthquake was felt in the city and surrounding areas on Monday morning. Geoscience Australia indicated the quake had a magnitude of 4.9 and placed its epicentre in waters south of Adelaide. People calling local radio described the tremor as lasting several seconds.

One resident in Reynella, in Adelaide's south, said the whole bed moved after she had made a cup of coffee and returned to bed, causing the drink to spill. Another caller from Goolwa said pot plants started vibrating and that he heard a rumble. The reports suggest the shaking was widely noticed across parts of the metropolitan area and beyond.

Geoscience Australia's reading provides the first official estimate of the quake's strength, while the public reports give an immediate sense of how it was experienced on the ground. No damage or injuries were mentioned in the supplied reports. The event was significant enough to prompt multiple calls from residents describing the same brief but noticeable shaking.

Earthquakes of this size can be felt over a broad area, especially when they occur offshore or near the coast. South Australia is not among the world's most seismically active regions, but tremors are still periodically recorded and can be felt in populated areas such as Adelaide. Even when they do not cause major damage, such events can raise concern because they arrive without warning and are difficult to predict.

The immediate focus is on confirming the quake's exact location, depth and whether any aftershocks follow. The supplied information does not mention emergency warnings, transport disruption or structural damage, so those details remain unclear. Further official updates would be needed to establish the full impact and whether the shaking was felt more widely than the initial reports suggest.

For now, the incident appears to be a short-lived but noticeable seismic event that drew attention from residents across Adelaide and nearby towns. The combination of an official magnitude reading and multiple eyewitness accounts points to a confirmed earthquake rather than isolated local vibration. What remains to be seen is whether authorities or seismologists provide more detail on the quake's depth, intensity and any continuing seismic activity.

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