Earthquake measuring 3.8 on the Richter scale rocks Melbourne
An earthquake has struck in the heart of Melbourne with residents reporting shaking just before midnight.
The earthquake struck on Sunday at 11.41pm near Sunbury, on the city’s north-west fringe, with an estimated magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter scale.
But residents in the CBD and downtown Melbourne claimed they could feel the tremor.
Dr Dee Ninis, an earthquake geologist, said it was ‘widely felt across Melbourne’.
Victoria State Emergency Service’s said: ‘A magnitude 3.8 earthquake has been recorded with an epicentre near Sunbury, Victoria.
‘The earthquake occurred at 11:41pm with widespread felt reports. No injuries or damage has been recorded at this time.’
The emergency service warned residents to be wary of aftershocks and to ‘drop, cover, and hold on’ if they experienced one.
SEN 1116 radio host Damian Watson experienced the tremor while presenting live on air.
The mic can be seen trembling as a song plays before he welcomes listeners back.
‘We’ve experienced a tremor in the studio, I’m not sur eif you have at home. That felt like a bit of an earthquake.’
Residents flooded to social media to share their experience of the tremor.
Journalist and writer Sasha Petrova said: ‘My house just shook so violently I thought several bombs had exploded.’
Ms Petrova said it did not feel like the ‘trembling of a quake’ but rather ‘just two one second violent shakes close together, with some books falling off the shelf’.
The earthquake struck on Sunday about 11:47pm with an estimated magnitude of 4.5 on the Richter scale near Sunbury, 40km north west of the city
But residents living in Melbourne’s CBD said they could feel the walls of their apartment shaking
Sunbury resident Corey Lainez, 41, told The Age the quake left a crack in the wall of his kitchen.
‘I thought a car or truck had hit the house and before I could even stand up the dogs were running around the house barking,’ he said.
‘It was one very big, violent shake.’
One startled Twitter user said he had been ‘woken up’ by the tremor.
‘The whole house was shaking! he said.
‘My phone alerted me with safety information, shaken got up to check on my family, alhamdulillah all ok!
Another Twitter user wrote: ‘Earthquake in Melbourne felt like a massive explosion.’
One Facebook user living on Phillip Island south of Melbourne said even their windows rattled.
Those people living in the affected area with Android phones received automatic alerts, saying: ‘Expect light shaking. Initial estimate M4.5 about 21.6km away.’
Some people’s phones offered survival tips, including suggestions to get a pair of shoes, check for the smell of gas and advice to avoid damaged buildings.
Another said his phone received an earthquake alert and his ‘house was shaking here in Yarraville’.
There was a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in Victoria in September 2021.
