Longley Earthquake: Tremor rocks small Tasmanian town

A 1.8 magnitude earthquake jolted the small town Longley in southern Tasmania just after 10pm on Sunday.

Geoscience Australia, the government agency that reports on significant earthquakes, received more than 35 felt reports from residents as far as Kingston, Blackmans Bay and Margate.

Senior seismologist Phil Cummins said it was both surprising and impressive how many people felt the tremor.

'I'm a bit surprised there are so many felt reports but it could just be that it's close enough to populated areas. It was a generally weak shaking, still it's quite a few for an earthquake this small,' he told The Mercury. 

Mr Cummins said there were a number of reasons why people could feel it.  

'It might just be a random chance that someone is more likely to feel it but it could also be that there may be some people that have homes on soft soils which amplify the shaking a bit,' he explained. 

He added that getting those felt reports helps experts to understand more about the behaviour earthquakes and their seismic waves.

There has been no reported injuries or damage to properties.

Mr Cummins said it is unlikely there will be any follow-up earthquakes, and that they're not common in and around Hobart.

'Earthquakes can happen anywhere in Australia because of the gradual build up of stress in the Australian crust that's caused by forces transmitted from the plate boundary thousands of kilometres away,' he said. 

Last year, a 3.4 magnitude earthquake was recorded west of the northwest tip of Tasmania.