The locals say there has not been a quake like it in living memory.
Mining country is no stranger to seismic activity. In the last 20 years, more than 150 events have been registered in the region, many of which happen near or under coalmining operations because the mines are close to natural fault lines.
But the 4.8 magnitude quake that shook Muswellbrook in the Upper Hunter just after midday on Friday, August 23, was the most significant in decades.
Jill Taylor, who has worked on Bridge Street in Muswellbrook's town centre for the last two years, thought that a truck was coming through the walls. Later, it would be hard to tell how long the earthquake lasted - a few seconds perhaps - but it felt much longer.
"When it hit, it was like a truck was coming through. It was all the noise then, and the roof started shaking, and I thought, 'Let's get out of here'," she said.
Next door, a chimney atop the real estate's roof had crumbled and collapsed, sending bricks, originally laid at the beginning of the last century and stamped with their marker's mark, hurtling into the alleyway.
The rubble tore a hole in the side of the neighbouring shop, not far from where Ms Taylor's desk sits just off the interior side.
Tony McTaggart, the real estate principal who owns the damaged building, was conducting a stock sale at Denman when the quake struck. He said he was more concerned with dodging cattle and taking bids to notice the earth move but was called back to Muswellbrook in the afternoon to assess and clean up the damage.
"Thank goodness no one got hurt," he said as he and his son Paul shovelled rubble into the back of a ute. "It can be a busy walkway here, but no one was here at the time."
Mr McTaggart, who was born in Muswellbrook, said the event brought back memories of the 1989 Newcastle Earthquake, but he said even then, the damage felt in the Upper Hunter was minimal.
"We're just lucky in a way because there are two other chimneys on the other side, and the high parapet at the front of the building, which is an architectural feature, hasn't sustained any damage," he said.
Mr McTaggart's wife and business partner, Prudence, was inside with her colleague Lluka Stewart when the building suddenly shook violently, and a rumbling came through the walls.
"We could feel it for a long time, and then we could hear this noise," Mrs McTaggard said. "It was a loud, rumbling noise, and then when we got out the door, there was still a lot of dust settling."
Asked if they were shaken by the ordeal, Mrs McTaggart said they didn't have time to think.
"It honestly felt like a long time," she said. "I haven't experienced anything like this."
At the Royal Hotel, staff said the pub was almost empty when the quake struck and that they had escaped, shaken and with only a few cracks upstairs but otherwise unscathed.
Emergency services confirmed on Friday afternoon there were no serious injuries, though SES crews were busy with reports of minor infrastructure damage, and some 2500 homes and businesses, mostly in the southern neighbourhoods, were left without power.
Both St James' Primary School and Muswellbrook South Public were closed for the afternoon, but there were no reports of injury or damage.
Geoscience Australia said two lesser aftershocks followed the initial quake, which had its epicentre at BHP's Mt Arthur coalmine outside Muswellbrook.
Some workers were provided first aid for minor injuries, but no one was seriously hurt.
Inspections are being carried out at the site before operations resume, a BHP spokesperson told the Newcastle Herald.
Geophysicist Stuart Clarke of the University of NSW in Sydney said the geology around Muswellbrook acted as a funnel for the earthquake, channelling its power towards the town and explaining why locals felt the brunt of the shock.
"There is a long sinkline acting as a telegraph to transport the signal northward," Professor Clark said. "That's propagating [the shock] from the epicentre to that location along the geological structure and concentrating in that direction."
Climate lobby group Solutions for Climate Australia said the earthquake raised "serious concerns" for the federal Opposition's plans to build a nuclear reactor in the Upper Hunter.
Last month, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said on a visit to Muswellbrook that if energy company AGL did not reverse its anti-nuclear stance, an elected Coalition government would seize the site of the former Liddell power station in the national interest to build a nuclear reactor on the land.
"The Liberal Nationals need to tell residents how an emergency at a nuclear reactor would be handled and who would handle it," Solutions for Climate Australia campaigner Elly Baxter said. "We need to have a mature conversation about the safety and security of nuclear reactors."
