Australia: Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, tremors rattle southeast

Australia: Magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes near Melbourne, tremors rattle southeast

by Joseph Anthony
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A person walks past damage to the exterior of a restaurant following an earthquake in the Windsor suburb of Melbourne, Australia, September 22, 2021. AAP Image/James Ross via REUTERS

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Melbourne on Wednesday, Geoscience Australia said, one of the countryโ€™s biggest quakes on record, causing damage to buildings in the countryโ€™s second largest city and sending tremors throughout neighbouring states.

The quakeโ€™s epicentre was near the rural town of Mansfield in the state of Victoria, about 200 km (124 miles) northeast of Melbourne, and was at a depth of 10 km (six miles). An aftershock was rated 4.0.
Images and video footage circulating on social media showed rubble blocking one of Melbourneโ€™s main streets, while people in northern parts of the city said on social media they had lost power and others said they were evacuated from buildings.
The quake was felt as far away as the city of Adelaide, 800 km (500 miles) to the west in the state of South Australia, and Sydney, 900 km (600 miles) to the north in New South Wales state, although there were no reports of damage outside Melbourne and no reports of injuries.
More than half of Australiaโ€™s 25 million population lives in the southeast of the country from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney.
โ€œWe have had no reports of serious injuries, or worse, and that is very good news and we hope that good news will continue,โ€ Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Washington.
โ€œIt can be a very disturbing event, an earthquake of this nature. They are very rare events in Australia and as a result, I am sure people would have been quite distressed and disturbed.โ€
Quakes are relatively unusual in Australiaโ€™s populated east due to its position in the middle of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Plate, according to Geoscience Australia. The quake on Wednesday measured higher than the countryโ€™s deadliest tremor, a 5.6 in Newcastle in 1989, which resulted in 13 deaths.
The mayor of Mansfield, Mark Holcombe, said he was in his home office on his farm when the quake struck and ran outside for safety.
โ€œI have been in earthquakes overseas before and it seemed to go on longer than I have experienced before,โ€ Holcombe told the ABC. โ€œThe other thing that surprised me was how noisy it was. It was a real rumbling like a big truck going past.โ€
He knew of no serious damage near the quake epicentre, although some residents reported problems with telecommunications.
No tsunami threat was issued to the Australian mainland, islands or territories, the countryโ€™s Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.
The quake presented a potential disruption for anti-lockdown protests expected in Melbourne on Wednesday, which would be the third day of unrest that has reached increasing levels of violence and police response.
REUTERS

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