An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 occurred in the neighborhood of Sunbury in the Australian city of Melbourne, with a depth of three kilometers.
Geoscience Australia reported that tremors were felt, but there were no immediate reports of damage.
Sunday’s earthquake struck the northwestern edge of the city, near Sunbury, at 11:41 p.m. Residents in the CBD and downtown Melbourne reported feeling tremors.
“It was felt all over Melbourne,” earthquake geologist Dr De Nance said.
Region: Sunbury, VIC
— EarthquakesGA (@EarthquakesGA) May 28, 2023
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
“There are multiple reports of the earthquake, which occurred at 11:41 p.m. No loss of life or property has been reported at this time.
The emergency service issued a warning, instructing locals to “fall, cover and hold” in case of an aftershock.
Live on air, SEN 1116 radio host Damian Watson also felt the tremors.
“We experienced an earthquake in the studio, I’m not sure if you have it in your house. It felt like an earthquake,” he said.
Social media was flooded with locals who wanted to share their experiences of the earthquake.
Sasha Petrova, a journalist and author, remarked: “My house just shook so violently that I thought several bombs had exploded.”
Petrova added that it felt like “two violent shocks of one second close to each other, with some books falling off the shelves” rather than an “earthquake tremor”.
One shocked Twitter user said he was “awakened” by the quake while shooting a video from a rooftop that turned on the lights of nearby buildings.
Melbourne #earthquake felt all across the CBD, everyone wide awake! pic.twitter.com/syBrtlX5Vt
— Paul Lejos (@PLedjen) May 28, 2023
He exclaimed, “The whole house was shaking!”
“My phone alerted me with safety information, shook and got up to check on my family, Alhamdulillah all is well!” he said.
Android phone owners in the affected area received automated alerts saying: “Minor shaking expected. M4.5 initially thought to be 21.6 miles away.”
Corey Lines, 41, of Sunbury, told JEE News that the earthquake damaged his kitchen wall.
“I thought a car or a truck had hit the house and before I could get up, the dogs were running around the house barking,” he said.
“It was a huge, violent shock,” he added.
Victoria, another part of Australia, was previously hit by a magnitude 6.0 earthquake in September 2021.
