A magnitude 5.8 earthquake recorded in north-east Victoria, the largest in the state’s history, was felt in Canberra this morning.
According to Geoscience Australia, the magnitude 5.8 earthquake was 10km deep and centred at Mansfield, a small town on the foothills of Victoria’s alps around 350km south-west of Canberra, at around 9.15am.
A second quake registering at magnitude 4.7 on the Richter scale followed, also at Mansfield, about 15 minutes later.
Houses in Melbourne shook and movement from the earthquake could be felt in Geelong and even at Canberra’s Parliament House.
The ACT ESA say their Emergency Triple Zero call centre has received “a number of calls from concerned community members who have felt the aftershocks” of the earthquake across Canberra , with no reports of damage within the ACT “at this stage”.
Canberrans and Victorians alike took to social media en masse from around 9.20am today to report their experiences with the earthquake.
Victoria’s ‘largest ever earthquake’ rattles state
Having wreaked havoc across Victoria this morning, Seismology Research Centre Chief Scientist Adam Pascale said aftershocks could continue for months, although people may not feel them.
“A magnitude 5.8 makes this the largest onshore earthquake in Victoria in recorded history,” he told AAP.
“It’s a pretty significant earthquake for this state.
“There’ve been aftershocks every few minutes afterwards, the largest (4.7) about 15 minutes afterwards. We expect those aftershocks to continue for months probably.”
Victoria’s State Emergency Service confirmed to AAP the earthquake “emanated from Mansfield. There is no tsunami threat”.
The Victoria SES is receiving calls for assistance from across the state and is yet to make an assessment of any damage.
There are reports of damage in Prahran, Brunswick, West Melbourne and Albert Park and to the exterior of Betty’s Burgers on Chapel Street in Windsor.
No one was inside Betty’s Burgers but a tenant was upstairs in the same building when the earthquake hit, restaurant managing director Troy McDonagh told AAP.
“We’re out for months, it’s structural, it looks like the top’s come away, we need to get engineers in to assess it and then the works will need to be completed,” he said.
Lynne Myers of High County Apparel in Mansfield told AAP “it just scared the hell out of us”.
“Everything shook, the roof shook, boots fell off the shelf and I just ran outside,” she said.
“There’s no cracks or anything in the walls. We seem to have got over it pretty well. Everyone’s a bit shaken up here but there doesn’t seem to be any damage.
“I’ve lived here 29 years and have never felt anything like it.”
Mansfield Shire Councillor Mark Holcombe said he lived in the area for 20 years but had never experienced an earthquake. He said it “came out of left field”.
“It was really strong. I was sitting down at work at my desk and I needed to run outside, it took me a while to work out what it was,” he told ABC television.
“I have been in earthquakes overseas before and it seemed to go on longer than I have experienced before.
“The other thing that surprised me was how noisy it was. It was a real rumbling like a truck going past.”
Tremors were also felt as far away as the NSW central coast, nearly 1,000km from Melbourne.
Building movement was reported in Sydney’s CBD and by people at home in some suburbs of Sydney.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who is currently in Washington DC, said he had spoken by text with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews following the earthquake.
“It can be a very, very disturbing event for an earthquake of this nature,” he told reporters.
“They are very rare events in Australia and as a result, I am sure people would have been quite depressed and disturbed by that, particularly in the most immediate area affected.”
Any federal response to the emergency will be handled by Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
The earthquake was originally recorded as a magnitude 6.0 but was later downgraded to 5.8 on the Richter scale.
There are no reports of damage in the other states.
With AAP
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