Melbourne earthquake – Bigger earthquake fears to hit city after 6 magnitude tremors
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Fears are growing that Melbourne could be rocked by an even BIGGER earthquake after the city was hit by a massive 6.0 shaker this morning.
Buildings were destroyed by the seismic change, tremors were felt across Victoria, Canberra and even parts of Sydney.
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Now, experts are warning that an “even bigger event” could strike the region and that “aftershocks” are already occurring.
Adam Pascale, of the Seismology Research Center, told ABC: “It’s unlikely there will be a bigger event, but we’ll see as we go.
“Aftershocks are probably already happening. “
Photos of rubble on the streets in Melbourne were posted online by a local radio station with residents saying they had lost power in the northern part of the city.
The Victoria State Emergency Service has warned residents of possible aftershocks.
A statement said: “If you are located in Victoria you are in danger. Expect aftershocks, stay away from damaged buildings and other dangers. Avoid driving except in an emergency. “
It is the largest earthquake to hit Australia since a 6.5-inch cocktail shaker rocked Perth in 1968.
Victoria’s Emergency Management Commissioner Andrew Crisp said six aftershocks had been recorded with magnitudes up to 4.1 and more tremors could hit populated areas in the coming weeks.
He said: “We will probably see more aftershocks for weeks or even months.
“They say it is unlikely that we will see anything that will match or exceed what we saw at 9:15 am this morning, but there is a chance that major aftershocks will affect Victoria.”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “we have had no reports of serious injuries” as a result of the earthquake in Mansfield, near the town, at 9:15 am local time today.
Prime Minister Morrison said that although earthquakes were rare in the country, they “can be a very, very worrying event.”
Fortunately, most buildings in Melbourne suffered only minor structural damage, officials said.
The two destroyed buildings on the town’s Chapel Street – which included a restaurant – were the only significant reports of earthquake damage.
No one was inside the restaurant when the cocktail shaker hit, CEO Troy McDonagh said.
THE BIGGEST SHAKING IN 50 YEARS
He said: “We’re out for months, it’s structural, it looks like the summit is gone, we need to bring in engineers to assess it, and then the work will have to be completed.”
The shallow earthquake rocked southeast Australia and was felt hundreds of miles away, including in Adelaide and Launceston in Tasmania, ABC News reported.
The epicenter of the quake was near the rural town of Mansfield, about 124 miles northeast of Melbourne, and struck at a depth of six miles.
Residents near the epicenter said the sound of the earthquake sounded like a freight train or passenger plane passing overhead.
Mansfield residents claimed their homes had moved with paintings falling from walls and fish leaping out of the water.
A female driver thought she had struck a small animal before realizing the impact was caused by the movement of the ground beneath her.
A local woman, Margot Trellu, said: “Most people rush out of stores.
“It lasted about 10 to 15 seconds. Friends of mine said the cattle were going mad.
“Very scary for a lot of people because we don’t have earthquakes here.”
No tsunami threat has been issued against Australia’s mainland, islands or territories, the country’s Meteorological Office said in a statement.
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New Zealand earthquake observer Geonet said that “the 6.0 magnitude earthquake detected in Victoria is the largest earthquake on earth in Australia since 1997”.
In Victoria, a calm prime minister, Daniel Andrews, tweeted: “Yes, it was an earthquake.”
The Victoria State Emergency Department said there had been “largely [quake] reports felt. There is no threat of a tsunami. “
In Adelaide, the main hospital building was briefly evacuated due to the tremors felt at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Woodville.
Staff were also evacuated from Bendigo Hospital in Bendigo, Victoria and Alfred Hospital in Melbourne.
Workers ran past shops in Wagga Wagga as “the ground shook violently,” one man reported.
Some residents took to social media to verify they hadn’t imagined the shaking.
This can be a very, very disturbing event for an earthquake of this nature.
Scott Morrison
Elsewhere on Twitter, there were photos showing groceries strewn on the floor in supermarkets after being thrown from shelves.
There was also a dramatic feeling in the live TV news broadcasts, when cameras and tables began to shake as presenters rocked on air.
A social media user tweeted: “Okay, that was scary… I’ve had little tremors before, it was the biggest I’ve ever felt.”
Another user tweeted: “I felt it in Thredbo NSW! Didn’t know we had earthquakes like this in Australia.”
They added: “It was very confusing. I thought maybe it was an avalanche / landslide.”
“BUILD A BUILDING”
Sophie T added on Twitter that “The whole building was teetering in Zetland, Sydney. We thought we were dizzy at first!”
According to the people of Melbourne, it “lasted a good ten seconds and knocked things off the shelf.”
Charlotte March joked: “Plague, riots, earthquake… I really underestimated 2021 on my bingo card.”
Geoscience Australia reported that there had been three earthquakes within an hour south of Mansfield in Victoria – ranging in magnitude from 3.1 to 6.0.
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