A very shallow magnitude 2.8 earthquake was reported around noon near Cessnock, New South Wales, Australia.According to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the quake hit on Wednesday, September 17th, 2025, at 12:52 pm local time at a very shallow depth of 1.9 miles. Shallow earthquakes are felt more strongly than deeper ones as they are closer to the surface. 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.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 Warkworth (pop. 59) located 3 miles from the epicenter, and Bulga (pop. 350) 3 miles away.Other towns or cities near the epicenter where the quake might have been felt as very weak shaking include Singleton (pop. 5,100) located 10 miles from the epicenter, Singleton Heights (pop. 4,600) 10 miles away, and Wattle Ponds (pop. 1,100) 13 miles away. In Denman (pop. 1,800, 25 miles away), Cessnock (pop. 15,100, 25 miles away), Muswellbrook (pop. 12,100, 26 miles away), and Heddon Greta (pop. 2,000, 32 miles away), the quake was probably not felt.Earthquake data: Date & time: 2025-09-17 12:52 local time (17 Sep 2025 02:52 GMT)Magnitude: 2.8Depth: 3.34 kmEpicenter latitude / longitude: 32.62°S / 151.01°E (Singleton, New South Wales, Australia)Primary data source: GeoAu