Australia Earthquake : 3.8 magnitude earthquake, considered to be one of the most powerful quakes to have rocked the city in over 120 years, shook the north-western suburb of Melbourne’s Sunbury on Sunday night.
As per Geoscience Australia, the temblor struck 3km deep of Sunbury at about 11.40 pm on Sunday. No serious injuries have been reported however, Victoria’s State Emergency Service (SES) has been called to probe damage to multiple buildings. The SES has also urged people to prepare for aftershocks that as per the department are quite likely to occur. Seismologist Adam Pascale, from the Seismology Research Centre, said that the earthquake was so strong that it woke him up and got him out of bed.
earthquake hit Melbourne
In the year 2021, a rare 6.0 magnitude earthquake struck Melbourne causing damage to buildings.
The epicentre was near Mansfield, a rural town in the state of Victoria. The town is about 200 km northeast of Melbourne. The epicentre was at a depth of 10 km. An aftershock of intensity 4.0 was recorded. The earthquake was felt as far as Adelaide and Sydney.
Quakes are relatively unusual in Australia’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 country’s deadliest tremor, a 5.6 in Newcastle in 1989, which resulted in 13 deaths.
warning in South Pacific
A 7.7 magnitude earthquake (Australia Earthquake) hit the southeast of the Loyalty Islands in the French territory of New Caledonia on May 19 and triggered tsunami warnings to nations in the South Pacific. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) issued warnings for Vanuatu and Fiji while Australia’s meteorological agency issued a warning for Lord Howe Island off its east coast. A tsunami alert that was issued in New Caledonia was lifted later as per an official.
“Based on the preliminary earthquake parameters, hazardous tsunami waves are possible for coasts within 1,000 km (620 miles) of the earthquake epicentre,” the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin.
It advised residents in endangered coastal regions to exercise caution. In the city of Noumea in New Caledonia, a hotel receptionist told AFP she felt no shaking from the tremor.
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported that the earthquake occurred at a depth of roughly 24 miles or 38 km. According to New Zealand, the country was still determining if the earthquake put its coasts in danger from tsunamis.
