Shocking footage has captured the heart-warming moment an Australian mother rushes to protect her baby after being woken up by a massive earthquake.
The 4.5 magnitude earthquake struck the small town of Muswellbrook, near Newcastle in northern New South Wales, shortly before 6am on Saturday 7 September.
A baby monitor captured the moment a Hunter Valley mother was woken by a loud bang and violent shaking as she slept next to her son.
The clip shows the mother reacting quickly as she took the child into her arms before looking around the room to check they were safe.
“Watch my motherly instincts when an earthquake happens,” she captioned the video.
“We’d already had two earthquakes in the last two weeks, so I was nervous. I was ready to run to the bathroom if this situation continued for one more second.”
Hundreds of viewers praised the woman’s quick reaction.
“Nothing compares to mommy instincts,” one person commented.
A baby monitor captured the moment a Hunter Valley mother was woken by a loud bang and violent shaking as she slept next to her son (pictured)
The clip shows the mother, who reacted quickly, taking the child in her arms (pictured)
“Mother’s instincts kicked in quickly,” another person wrote.
“A mother’s instincts are the best. I woke up twice to see my son refluxing and choking. He wasn’t making a sound,” another person said.
A third shared: “When you become a parent, you become an incredibly light sleeper.”
Others expressed relief that the woman and her son were not injured.
“I’m glad you’re both safe,” said a third.
Dozens of properties in surrounding suburbs suffered minor damage and many residents woke up without power.
Just two weeks earlier, a magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck the town of Denman, about 20 kilometres south of Muswellbrook.
It was the largest earthquake in the area in 50 years, but smaller than the magnitude 5.4 quake that devastated Newcastle and killed 13 people in 1989.
Muswellbrook Borough Council Mayor Steven Reynolds said he was lying in bed when his house shook violently.
“I’ll tell you what, I thought the roof was going to fall on me,” he said.
“You couldn’t miss it, it was big. Here we have the mine explosions and I knew immediately that it was nothing like that.”
Hundreds of properties in the surrounding areas suffered minor damage from the quake (pictured, debris seen on a footpath after the quake in Muswellbrook, northern New South Wales)
There were unconfirmed reports of stock on supermarket shelves falling to the ground (pictured) after a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck Denham, New South Wales.
More than 170 kilometres away, Sydney residents reported feeling tremors from the quake.
Unverified social media posts showed products falling off supermarket shelves, while some homes had cracks in their walls.
While there were no reports of major damage to infrastructure, the New South Wales State Emergency Service received nearly a dozen calls for minor damage.
Australia has been hit by 16 earthquakes in the past week, with 12 recorded between magnitude two and three.
According to Geoscience Australia, around 100 earthquakes of magnitude three or greater are recorded in the country each year.