There was no rattle or roar, and most Melburnians slept through it unaware – but another small earthquake shook Victoria early Wednesday morning, less than a week after a stronger quake shook the state.
GeoScience Australia’s website shows a magnitude-2.4 earthquake struck near Gembrook in the Dandenong Ranges at 1.26am on Wednesday morning.
Play Video
Earthquake hits Victoria overnight
Play video
0:25
Earthquake hits Victoria overnight
The state of Victoria has been hit with yet another earthquake.
Only a lucky 100-plus people on Melbourne’s eastern fringe reportedly felt this early-morning tremor though, which GeoScience Australia’s automated system has labelled as occurring near Pakenham.
The epicentre is still located some 15 kilometres further north of the outer south-eastern suburb.
Read Also:- Finishing Government policy regarding minorities in society Might Only the Start
Victoria SES issued a late-night tweet confirming the tremor and reporting no injuries or damage had been recorded.
Wednesday’s earthquake struck at a depth of three kilometres, according to GeoScience Australia.
A major magnitude-5.9 earthquake rocked Melbourne in September 2021 and has since sparked numerous aftershocks.
Just last Friday, a magnitude-4.6 quake – the largest since the record tremor in the midst of pandemic lockdowns two years ago – struck near Mt Baw Baw in eastern Victoria, about 1.30am.
In late May, a magnitude-3.8 tremor near Sunbury, on Melbourne’s north-west fringe, was recorded as the largest earthquake in metropolitan Melbourne for 120 years. Experts told The Age at the time it was part of normal seismic activity.
A small earthquake also rattled parts of Melbourne’s south-east in mid-May, and Frankston was hit with a tremor last September.
The Seismology Research Centre says more than 1500 earthquakes have been recorded in the Woods Point area – close to the location of last Friday’s tremor – since the September 2021 earthquake.
Dr Dee Ninis, from the Seismology Research Centre, explained to this masthead last week there was a chance Victoria suffers a larger earthquake, but recent tremors were well within the expected aftershock sequence following the 2021 tremor.
Read Also :- Approaching Cricket Shepparton president Narelle Claney gets off the imprint
Australian cities would have no advance warning if a huge earthquake were to strike because the country does not have an early warning system.
But, this masthead reported installing one similar to earthquake-prone areas like Japan and California would be technically challenging and extremely costly, especially considering Australia’s relatively benign tremors.
