6.0 Magnitude Earthquake Shakes Australia, Melbourne Community Concerned

An earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude struck an area near Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday (22/9), sparking anxiety and causing damage to buildings

Netgenz - Politic International | An earthquake measuring 6.0 magnitude struck an area near Melbourne, Australia, on Wednesday (22/9), sparking anxiety and causing property damage. The Australian Geophysics Agency reported that the epicenter was near the town of Mansfield, Victoria state, about 200 km northeast of Melbourne. This earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 km. People in Melbourne were also worried and immediately ran out of buildings when the earthquake occurred, one of them was Zume Phim. "All the buildings shook. All the windows, the glass, shook, like a shock wave. I never felt this before. It was a little scary," Phim told AFP. Photos and video footage circulating on social media show some debris blocking one of the special roads in Melbourne.

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Meanwhile, people in the northern part of the city complained that the electricity was out. Some explained they had been evacuated from the building. The quake was felt as far away as the City of Adelaide, the state of South Australia, and Sydney in the state of New South Wales. So far, there have been no reports of damage or injuries outside Melbourne. "We've had no reports of serious, or more chronic, injuries, and that's very good information. We hope the good news continues," First Secretary Scott Morrison told reporters in Washington. Morrison said earthquakes are a rare occurrence in Australia.

"This is a rare occurrence in Australia, and as a result, I believe people will be stressed and disturbed," he said. In eastern Australia, earthquakes are rare because of the status of this area in the middle of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Straight. The shock that occurred today is said to be the largest earthquake in Australia, surpassing the initial large earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 in Newcastle in 1989. At that time, the death toll reached 13 people. "(This quake) was the biggest event in southeast Australia for a long time," said Melbourne Campus Geologist Mike Sandiford. He then spoke, "We have several stories of very large earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 in the late 1800's, although the magnitude number is not known with certainty."

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Such earthquakes are predicted to occur every 10 to 20 years in southeastern Australia. The most recent earthquake occurred in 2012. Sandiford said Australia had to factor in aftershocks. "Probably a dozen or more to be felt, at least nearby," he said. Such an earthquake would be predicted to cost billions of dollars in losses if it occurred in Melbourne.