A magnitude 5.8 earthquake has rattled southeast Australia, damaging buildings in the city of Melbourne. Victoria seems to have fugitive extensive damage and no injuries have yet been reported. The tremors lasted almost hardly 20 seconds.
- The earthquake struck Mansfield, not far from the Victorian state capital, at 09:15 local time (23:15 GMT) on Wednesday. Tremors were felt as far north as Dubbo and as far south as Sydney, both roughly 700 kilometers from the epicenter.
- Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “We have had no reports of serious injuries and that is very good news”.
- The earthquake was also felt in New South Wales (NSW), the ACT and Tasmania. Attanayake said the earthquake was felt around a 600km radius.
- It was powerful enough to shake a building on Chapel Street in Prahran, causing the top of the wall to rattle loose and bricks to smash on the ground below. Worried about the building collapsing Melbourne, apartment dwellers ran out on to the street.
- While this is one of Australia’s greatest earthquakes in recent years since a magnitude 5.7 incident at Mount Hotham in May 1966, and the first since a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in the Gippsland town of Moe in 2012, it is the first since a magnitude 5.4 earthquake in the Gippsland town of Moe in 2012.
- There have been three aftershocks of 4.0 and 3.1 magnitude recorded since then, with experts warning there could be more in the following days and, even months.
- NSW’s deputy premier said most reports of damage were minor and there were no reports of injuries or deaths from the storms.
- Helicopters have been despatched to examine the situation, and Emergency Management Victoria has issued a ‘watch-and-act’ level state-wide alert.
- Tim Mcdonagh, the managing director of Betty’s Burgers in the damaged building, said it was surreal, describing it as a “catastrophe” in already unusual circumstances.
