Australia experiences a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake every six to eight years. In fact, today’s earthquake – with a magnitude 5.9 – appears to be the largest event we have experienced in the eastern half of the country. However, in the eastern half of the country, we have not recorded a magnitude 6 earthquake since we started keeping careful records of earthquakes. We observe that the largest onshore earthquakes occur in the western half of the continent where the Earth’s crust is the oldest, which can measure up to magnitude 6.6. HOW BIG WAS THIS EARTHQUAKE IN AUSTRALIA’S HISTORY OF EARTHQUAKES?Ĭonsidering the recorded earthquakes over the last 100 years or so, Australia experiences a magnitude 6 or greater earthquake every six to eight years.“Apparently when it struck everyone rushed out on to the main street, just bolted outside … like it was the end of the world,” she said.We asked Dr Januka Attanayake, a Research Fellow in Earthquake Seismology, and Associate Professor of Earthquake Sciences, Mark Quigley, at the University of Melbourne, some key questions. When she eventually arrived at work, books were down on the floor and the shop was “a bit messed up”, but structurally, the walls were fine. “I’ve never experienced anything like it before, everyone was shaken up.” “It lasted about 45 seconds, long enough to think – ‘crikey’ and hold on to something … a lot of people say it sounded like a helicopter or a washing machine, but it was so intense, the building was moving so much and pictures were coming down. “I live in a very solid house on a concrete slab and when the earthquake struck it was like jelly … I thought with all the rain, it was a sinkhole opening up,” she said. Ink Bookshop owner Charlotte Lindsay expected to find her store, housed in an old building on the main street, in tatters. I’m too busy making coffees but people all over are calling, it’s the talk of the town.”ĭouglas didn’t know if there’d been damage in the area, but was told the tremor was felt “right down to Cann River”, a small coastal town about seven hours south-east of Mansfield. “Since then, customers have been getting lots of phone calls from concerned family and friends everywhere. We heard this rumble, rumble like a big truck coming through the building. “It started slow, built up and everyone was nervous. I said ‘perhaps we should move outside just in case’, and by that time it was already over. “Nothing broke, thank goodness, but it was quite concerning. “The whole place shook really,” she said. The Witches Brew Cafe owner Rebecca Douglas was serving customers when her shop shook. “I thought I’d have a mess to clean up with the severity of the earthquake and there’d be stock down, but I walked in and one bottle fell off the rack and it didn’t even break,” he said. Haston drove into town to start his shift early for fear of finding broken bottles at the shop. “Considering I originally come from Christchurch I’m quite used to earthquakes … but this one was a totally different feeling,” he said. Mansfield Hotel manager Guy Haston was at home, 20km out of town, when he started feeling a “rocking and rolling” that felt “quite severe”. The journalist at the local paper was driving into town and he didn’t even feel it … it’d be quite a nice day if it weren’t for all this.” “But that’s about it, which is quite extraordinary. The town’s really lucky, the only thing I’ve seen have structural damage was a house a fair way out, it’s an old stone cottage and some of the rocks have come loose. “I’ve been here 25 years and there’s never been one in my time. “We’re used to bushfires, but not an earthquake,” Holcombe said. Shoppers milled in cafes, teenagers gathered at picnic tables on the main street, publicans restocked kegs. In the foothills of the Victorian alps, 180km north-east of Melbourne, it was business as usual on Wednesday afternoon. It was the strongest earthquake reported in the state of Victoria, and “probably” the largest earthquake felt around Melbourne in the past 200 years.īut Mansfield Shire Council, remarkably, reported no significant damage in the tourist town, home to about 3,400 residents. The ground began rumbling at 9.15am, sending tremors across Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city, and on to Sydney, Dubbo and Launceston – all about 700km away. But we never thought we’d be at the epicentre and everyone is just surprised.” The birds went bananas, they knew something was wrong. “It was really noisy, like a truck going past your front door. Major earthquake strikes Victoria, damaging buildings in Melbourne – video
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