Biggest quake in 50 years hits Australia's Goldfields
PERTH, Australia — The biggest earthquake in 50 years rattled Western Australia's Goldfields region on Tuesday, damaging buildings but not causing any injuries, officials said.
The 5.2-magnitude quake, at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometres (six miles), struck just outside the Kalgoorlie-Boulder mining towns at about 8:17 am (0017 GMT), geologists said.
"The earthquake has impacted mainly the Boulder area damaging around five or six older hotels on Burt Street including the Roc Hotel and Golden Eagle," Geoscience Australia said in a statement.
"Burt and Lane Streets in Boulder have been closed and people are asked to avoid the area. There have been no reports of people trapped or injured."
A spokesman for the geoscientific agency said the remote mining centre, about 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of Perth, had not seen an earthquake bigger than 4.2 in the previous half-century.
"This is quite a large earthquake for Australia and a shallow, potentially damaging, earthquake," he said. "It's the largest event in this area in the last 50 years."
Officials at nearby mines were not immediately available for comment.
Copyright © 2010 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
A magnitude 5.2 earthquake has hit the Western Australian mining town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

The earthquake, which struck at 08:17 am AWST (00:17 UTC), is the strongest to hit the region of Goldfields-Esperance in 50 years. Goldfields is considered one of the more geologically stable regions of Australia, in comparison to the southwest corner of the state, which is an active zone at the edge of the Yilgarn block.

Kalgoorlie is located 600 kilometres (370 miles) east of the Western Australian capital Perth and is historically the largest gold producing centre of its type in Australia. Kalgoorlie is also the largest urban centre in Goldfields, and has the largest number of buildings that would be vulnerable to such an earthquake.

Minor casualties and building damage have been reported, and miners and schoolchildren have been evacuated.