Magnitude 3.6 earthquake strikes near Katanning, Western Australia, Australia

A magnitude 3.6 earthquake near Katanning, Western Australia, Australia, was reported only 9 minutes ago by the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), considered one of the key international agencies that monitor seismic activity worldwide. The earthquake occurred at a very shallow depth of 3.5 miles beneath the epicenter around noon on Thursday, April 9th, 2026, at 12:36 pm local time. The exact magnitude, epicenter, and depth of the quake might be revised within the next few hours or minutes as seismologists review data and refine their calculations, or as other agencies issue their report.
Our monitoring service identified a second report from the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake which listed the quake at magnitude 3.6 as well.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, the quake should not have caused any significant damage, but was probably felt by many people as light vibration in the area of the epicenter.
Weak shaking might have been felt in Pallinup (pop. 78) located 7 miles from the epicenter, and Gnowangerup (pop. 590) 10 miles away.
Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Broomehill (pop. 380) located 18 miles from the epicenter, Katanning (pop. 3,700) 24 miles away, and Tambellup (pop. 370) 24 miles away. In Kojonup (pop. 1,200, 45 miles away), and Wagin (pop. 1,400, 49 miles away), the quake was probably not felt.

Earthquake data:
Date & time: Apr 9, 2026 12:36 pm (GMT +8) local time (9 Apr 2026 04:36 GMT)
Magnitude: 3.6
Depth: 5.60 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude: 33.8°S / 117.95°E (Gnowangerup, Western Australia, Australia)
Primary data source: EMSC
https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquake/news/299580/Magnitude-36-earthquake-strikes-near-Katanning-Western-Australia-Australia.html