Victoria earthquake live updates: reports of damage in Melbourne after a tremor felt in south-eastern Australia | Australia News

Dr Januka Attanayake, the head of research with the earth sciences unit of seismic seismology at the University of Melbourne, said preliminary estimates had a magnitude of 5.8 to 6.0.

“If these preliminary estimates are correct, this is probably the biggest earthquake we have felt around Melbourne in the last 175-200 years“said Attanayake.” If this is a magnitude of 6.0, it is the first in hundreds of years. This is the first earthquake of this magnitude that I have seen here in my life, and it probably hasn’t been seen in the life of several generations.

“We record around 400 earthquakes of magnitude less than 2.5 each year,†he said. “So earthquakes are no exception. ”

Usually, Attanayake and his team would set up more seismometers afterwards to try to detect aftershocks, which can last for months, but due to the travel and work restrictions of Covid-19 this was not possible, did he declare. Two significant aftershocks of 2.5 and 3.0 have already been detected by existing seismometers.

“It’s important work because if we can detect the aftershocks, we can detect the fault zone that ruptured,He said. “We need to know this information for a proper future hazard analysis. It helps us detect expected ground movements of earthquakes in the future. It is essential information for them. engineers who build urban structures in the future, because for example we can tell how much ground movement can be expected at a given location over the next 50 years.

Mansfield Hotel Manager Guy Haston fears there will be aftershocks later today.

“Considering I’m originally from Christchurch, I’m pretty used to earthquakes, and it was pretty bad,†he said.

“I didn’t get the noise you normally associate with earthquakes, but the sway and roll was pretty severe, it lasted for about a good 20 seconds.”

Haston was in Christchurch for a 5.7 earthquake which he described as a “totally different feeling”.

“In Christchurch it would move in one direction, then stop and move in a different direction. At this point you thought it was going to get worse or stop, and luckily it did.â€

Haston was at home when the earthquake hit Mansfield and traveled to town to start his shift earlier for fear of damage to the store.

“I don’t see any visible damage, I thought it was going to be out of stock, but I walked in and a bottle fell off the rack and it didn’t even break, â€he said with a laugh.

“I thought I would have a mess to clean up with severity.”

Let’s go back from New York to Mansfield, near the epicenter of the earthquake.

Witches Brew Cafe owner Rebecca Douglas was serving customers at her Mansfield store when the earthquake hit.

“The whole place really shook,†she said.

“Nothing broke, thank goodness, but it was quite concerning. I said maybe we should get out just in case, and by then it was already over.

Douglas said the tremor, in total, lasted for about 15 seconds.

“It started slowly, escalated and everyone was nervous. We heard that rumble, rumble like a big truck running through the building,” she said.

“Since then, customers have been there and received many phone calls from worried families and friends everywhere, I’m too busy making coffee but I also get a lot of text messages.”

Douglas was unsure if there had been any damage in the area, but believed the shaking had been felt “as far as Cann River”, about seven hours southeast of Mansfield.

Scott Morrison just spoke to traveling reporters in Washington about the earthquake.

He says the reports he has seen to date do not mention “serious injuries or things of that nature” and that is “very good news”.

He said Emergency Management Australia was liaising with state authorities and the Acting Prime Minister Barnabé Joyce keep him posted.

The federal government is ready to “provide all necessary assistance, whether it comes from the ADF or others.”

He said anyone in distress in Melbourne or beyond will be “well looked after”.

Morrison also said he had been in contact with the Victorian Prime Minister, Daniel Andrews.

Mansfield School and Kindergarten Administrator Rudolf Steiner Maisie Pilli was standing with her colleague when she heard a “loud crash”.

“Tome it looked like a truck was going to hit the building, and it wasn’t until my coworker and I looked at each other and thought it was an earthquake that we ran to a door and stood there together, â€she said .

Pilli felt the tremor for about 30 to 45 seconds and was relieved that the preschools were off during the school holidays.

“Everything was pretty solid, we didn’t see any damage, but we took a look afterwards and nothing went too far from the shelves, the only thing we saw outside was a few water tanks that were shaking, â€she said.

Pilli said all of the Mansfield community’s billboards are “hitting the charts” with most people having a similar experience.

“A friend of mine with horses says all the horses went crazy and didn’t take advantage of it,†she said with a laugh.

“My poor bitch is at home and I know she’s going to be like ‘what’s going on’?

“We weren’t really prepared for it to be in our location, I think we would jump under desks instead of a door next time.”