source : the age
The biggest earthquake to hit the state in three years has woken sleepers in regional Victoria and rattled Melburnians in the early hours of Saturday.
The magnitude 4.8 tremor was recorded by Geoscience Australia just after 2am with an epicentre six kilometres north-east of the South Gippsland town of Korumburra, about 103 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.
Seismology Research Centre chief scientist Adam Pascale has warned the seismic activity is far from over.
He has recorded dozens of aftershocks, the largest measuring 3.1 at 2.56am.
“I can see [aftershocks] popping off every couple of minutes and they’ll probably go on for weeks,” he said.
“There’s potential for another of similar, or potentially larger, magnitude in the first few days or weeks afterwards.”
More than 16,000 reports of the initial quake have already been lodged with GeoScience Australia.
The federal government agency reported the tremor had a depth of 10 kilometres.
Victorians across the state were shaken awake as far as Newport in the west and Whittlesea in the north-east.
Armadale’s Michelle Wade woke up to her apartment building and bed shaking.
“I could hear things falling down hitting the apartment floor above me,” she said. “It’s not something you expect when you’re sleeping. It definitely took me a while to settle my nerves.”
Jane Barnes thought she was hearing possums on the roof until she felt the floor shaking beneath her feet in Caulfield South.
“The windows shook and the whole house creaked. I couldn’t sleep after that one! Scary, scary!”
Dianna Burr feared her home in Research, 24 kilometres north-east from Melbourne, was being burgled when she first felt the quake.
“I was awoken by the bed shaking and thought my husband had unexpectedly come home but then thought that was unlikely so that turned to the fear that there was an intruder in my bedroom,” she said.
Geoscience Australia seismologist Dr Hadi Ghasemi said the quake was one of the strongest the region has felt for two decades.
He encouraged Victorians to share their experience feeling the “shallow, moderate” earthquake through the website.
“[First-hand reports] are useful information… they are enabling us to constrain otherwise purely empirical modelling of the ground shaking.”
The Victoria State Emergency Service also confirmed the tremor and alerted crews but have not received any requests for assistance and there has been no reports of building damage.
Seismic activity has spiked in Victoria since a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in September 2021 damaged buildings in Melbourne and was felt across south-eastern Australia.
That was the largest recorded within metropolitan Melbourne for 120 years.
“Tonight’s earthquake is a timely reminder to know what to do when an earthquake occurs,” the SES said.
“Drop to the ground, cover under a sturdy piece of furniture and protect your head and neck [and] hold on until the shaking stops.”
Anyone in need of assistance is advised to call the SES on 132 500.
More to come
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Lachlan Abbott is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email.
