“Rare 3.8-Magnitude Earthquake Hits Melbourne, Australia After 120 Years”

2023.05.30 Tue posted at 10:00 JST

（ＣＮＮ） An earthquake of magnitude (M) 3.8 occurred on the 28th near Melbourne in the state of southeastern Australia. Australia doesn’t experience many earthquakes, and although it was the first time in about 120 years that an earthquake of this magnitude had been recorded in Melbourne, it caused little damage.

The 3.8-magnitude quake struck Sunbury, northwest of Melbourne, at 11:41 p.m. local time on Saturday, according to government agency Geoscience Australia. The depth of the epicenter was 2 km.

Adam Pascal of the Institute of Seismology in Victoria said the quake was the strongest within a 40km radius of Melbourne since the 4.5 quake in 1902.

Pascal tweeted, “Woke up to a small tremor for maybe 5-10 seconds.”

Geoscience Australia has received more than 21,000 reports of the quake. The tremor was also felt in Bendigo, about 150 kilometers north of Melbourne, and Hobart in the southern state of Tasmania.

According to CNN affiliate 7 News and Sky News Australia, Melbourne residents were buzzing about the earthquake on Monday.

One resident said, “It looked like a plane had crashed somewhere next to my house.” Another resident, who lives on the 70th floor of a skyscraper, said, “The whole building shook several meters.” . “It sounded like our old house was about to collapse,” said a resident who “ran out with a machete” in his pajamas.

Although there are few earthquakes in Australia, seismic activity due to the movement of crustal plates is sometimes observed.

The magnitude 5.9 earthquake that hit Victoria in 2021 caused minor damage to buildings in Melbourne, nearly 200 kilometers from the epicenter.