Victoria hit by biggest earthquake in 30 years

Victoria has been shaken by its biggest earthquake in 30 years.

The tremor was recorded at 5.3 on the Richter scale at the epicentre 16km south-west of Moe starting at 8.53pm and lasting about 30 seconds.

It was felt across the state.


Send photos and video of the damage to [email protected]

Within minutes of the tremor, #earthquake began trending on Twitter as thousands took to the social network to discuss the event.

But it was soon evident most had little concern after the quake, with jokes about the event making up a large proportion of the tweets.

A number of celebrities also got in on the action with Chris Lilley tweeting a picture of his overturned Logie.

Comedian Meshel Laurie tweeted: “I would never have had the guts to call the ‪#earthquake first. There was a part of me that just assumed I was having a stroke.”

Geoscience Australia spokesman Chris Thompson said the last larger earthquake to hit the area was a 5.4-magnitude quake in November, 1982, at Wongungarra, 100km north of today’s epicentre.

Other earthquakes felt around Melbourne in recent years only rated about a three on the Richter scale, he said.

An ambulance spokesperson said the earthquake did not appear to have caused any serious injuries.

She said a man had fallen a short distance from a ladder at Chelsea Heights around the time of the earthquake but it was not clear if the two events were linked.

There have been reports that bottles of alcohol were shaken off shelves at the Moe pub.

Evelyn Mitchell, from Whittlesea, told ninemsn she was on the phone to her daughter when the house shook.

“I could hear my seven-year-old grandson asking what was it, he sounded very worried,” she wrote in an email.

“My other daughter who lives in Greenvale said it threw her husband out of bed in their two story house. Very frightening!”

Darren from Mordialloc thought someone was trying to break into his home.

“I thought someone was running across the roof and trying to break in,” he said.

“I actually thought there were several people up there.

“I also realized that my computer chair I was sitting on was kind of swaying and moving slightly. I seriously thought several people were tearing up the roof and breaking in.

“I ran out with a torch and ran downstairs and put all the lights on. I was shining the torch all around looking for someone.

“It went all quiet very quickly and I was going to call police. I stopped for a second and thought, was that an earth tremor that just happened?”

Julie from Wallan said the bench she was sitting started moving side to side.

“Then the walls shook and there was a rumbling sound. Scared the hell out of the kids too!” she said.

“The whole neighbourhood came out into the street curious to see who else felt the earthquake.”

Erin and Rob Azzopardi, from Delahey, said they “felt it very badly”.

“The whole house was shaking. So very, very scary.”

Jennifer Broadhead said: “Our house in Hampton rocked on its foundations, doors and walls were shaking and creaking. Dogs started howling…. scary!

You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

Leave a Reply

Powered by WordPress | Designed by: Premium WordPress Themes | Thanks to Themes Gallery, Bromoney and Wordpress Themes