Buildings crack, roads buckle in magnitude-3.8 Melbourne earthquake
Damage reports have come in after Melbourne was hit with a powerful 3.8-magnitude earthquake shortly before midnight on Sunday. High-rise buildings shook during the rolling tremors that lasted about 20 seconds.
According to Geoscience Australia, the earthquake’s epicentre was in the Sunbury region near Glenvale, about 30 kilometres north of the Melbourne CBD near the airport. It began at 11.41 pm at a depth of three kilometres at a magnitude of 3.8.
Region: Sunbury, VIC
Mag: 3.8
UTC: 2023-05-28 13:41:51
Lat: -37.54, Lon: 144.84
Dep: 3km
For more info and updates, or if you felt this earthquake, go to https://t.co/5d34rO1qd1— EarthquakesGA (@EarthquakesGA) May 28, 2023
People across Melbourne were woken by a thumping, roaring sound, prompting families and friends to text each other to check on their safety.
The earthquake was felt across the entire metropolis and felt far stronger than previous quakes. Houses and commercial buildings shook for about 20 seconds amid a sound like rolling thunder.
More than 20,000 people across the metropolis reported feeling the tremors to Geoscience Australia.
20,000 reports across Melbourne to Geoscience Australia's earthquake reporting site after mid night earthquake near Tullamarine airport pic.twitter.com/2fg6fDLQGb
— Tom Burton (@tburton) May 28, 2023
“It was scary, it rattled the whole house,” said a person named Victoria on Twitter.
Many people tweeted about the frightening sonic-boom sound.
SES Victoria tweeted: “Yep. We felt it too.”
“Felt like a train hit the house,” one person told ABC radio.
In Collingwood, the shakes rocked buildings and high-rise buildings shook amid cracking sounds.
Wi-Fi systems went down and some car alarms rang out.
Melbourne #earthquake felt all across the CBD, everyone wide awake! pic.twitter.com/syBrtlX5Vt
— Paul Lejos (@PLedjen) May 28, 2023
On local media, reports have begun to come in of buckled roads and buildings cracking across multiple suburbs. There were no reports of injuries.
Many people said they were stunned by how loud and powerful the tremors were. Some said it felt far more powerful than a 3.8 recording.
The tremors followed an earthquake on May 16 in the south-eastern suburbs.
Source: afr.com
