Magnitude-3.9 earthquake shakes homes in eastern Victoria

A magnitude-3.9 earthquake shook homes in eastern Victoria on Saturday night, with residents reporting a loud rumble and rattling buildings. The earthquake was recorded near Ensay, about 350 kilometres east of Melbourne, at approximately 9:30pm. Geosciences Australia received 346 reports from people who felt the tremor.

Residents in nearby Swifts Creek described a strong thump followed by a rumble through the valley. Some said glass and joints in their homes rattled, but no damage was reported in the supplied material. The event was the most powerful recorded in the area in more than a decade.

Geosciences Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Griffin said 27 earthquakes had been recorded within 100 kilometres of Ensay during the previous decade. Griffin said the earthquake was not particularly large but would have produced a substantial shake for people close to its source. He explained that Australia’s movement as part of a tectonic plate creates compression that can occasionally trigger earthquakes in south-eastern Australia.

Aftershocks could occur in the coming days and weeks, Griffin said. He added that earthquakes cannot be predicted and that the possibility of a larger event cannot be ruled out.