6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Australia, Mayor Runs Out Of House To Save Himself

JAKATA - A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck near Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria on Wednesday, Geoscience Australia said, one of the country's largest quakes on record, causing damage to buildings in the country's second-largest city and sending tremors across the country. neighboring states.

The epicenter was near the rural town of Mansfield in Victoria State, about 200 km (124 miles) northeast of Melbourne and was at a depth of 10 km (six miles). The next aftershock had a magnitude of 4.0.

Images and video footage circulating on social media showed debris blocking one of Melbourne's main thoroughfares, while people in the north of the city said on social media they had lost power and others said they had been evacuated from buildings.

The earthquake was felt as far away as the City of Adelaide, 800 km to the west in the state of South Australia, and Sydney, 900 km to the north in the state of New South Wales, although there were no reports of damage outside Melbourne and no reports of injuries.

More than half of Australia's 25 million people live in the southeast of the country from Adelaide to Melbourne to Sydney.

"We have had no reports of serious injuries, or worse, and that is very good news and we hope the good news will continue," Prime Minister Scott Morrison told reporters in Washington.

"This could be a very disturbing event, an earthquake like this one. This is a very rare event in Australia and as a result I believe people will be very distressed and disturbed."

Earthquakes are relatively unusual in populated eastern Australia, due to their position in the center of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Plate, according to Geoscience Australia. Wednesday's quake was measured higher than the country's deadliest quake, 5.6 in Newcastle in 1989, which left 13 people dead.

Meanwhile, Mansfield Mayor Mark Holcombe said he was in his home office on his farm when the quake hit and ran outside to save himself.

"I've had earthquakes overseas before and they seem to last longer than I've had before," Holcombe told the ABC.

"The other thing that struck me was how noisy it was. It was literally rumbling like a big truck going by," Holcombe continued. He knew there was no serious damage near the epicenter, although some residents reported problems with telecommunications.

No tsunami threat has been issued to the Australian mainland, island or territory, the country's Bureau of Meteorology said in a statement.

To note, the quake poses a potential disruption to anti-lockdown protests expected in Melbourne today, which will be the third day of unrest that has seen increased levels of violence and police response.