Amateur seismologist Alby Judge assures Arthur River residents earthquake swarm will ‘run out of breath’ soon

Arthur River residents have been told that the flurry of earthquakes that has rattled the region in recent weeks will “run out of breath” soon at a community forum. More than 30 people attended the Arthur River Hall on Sunday to hear from Martin Observatory seismic observer Alby Judge, who runs a private observation station from his home in Perth’s south-eastern suburbs. Mr Judge, a long-time passionate amateur seismologist, told the crowd that earthquake activity in the region was not new. “WA is what I like to call the earthquake capital of Australia,” he said. Mr Judge told locals they lived within the South West seismic zone, which he described as “the most active earthquake zone in Australia”. “It can be quite busy,” he said. “Other times it goes quiet. Prior to this sequence at Arthur River, it had been relatively quiet.” He said that what was occurring at Arthur River was known as a thrust fault, where one part of the earth’s crust was moving upwards. Mr Judge said the seismic activity would eventually quiet down. “It will run out of breath, so relax,” he said. “Faults release their energy and then go back to sleep.” When asked by a resident how to respond to a large earthquake, Mr Judge said the best thing to do was to drop on your knees, get under a strong object such as a wooden table and hold on to it until the shaking stops. As for preparations, his advice was to minimise the potential impacts of a strong earthquake. “If you have a big flatscreen TV which is likely to fall off if an earthquake occurs, put it down on the ground for a few weeks,” Mr Judge said. He urged residents to ignore online comments from people claiming they knew when a big earthquake was going to occur, saying they were impossible to predict. “I can’t do it, and if someone from Geoscience Australia was in my place here, or Geological Survey or somebody from the US, they would say the same,” he said.