Melbourne hit with 3.8 magnitude earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8 struck the neighbourhood of Sunbury in the Australian city of Melbourne at a depth of three kilometres. 

There are felt tremors, but no immediate reports of damage, reported Geoscience Australia.

The earthquake on Sunday shook the northwest edge of the city, close to Sunbury, at 11:41 pm. Residents in CBD and downtown Melbourne reported feeling the tremor.

Dr Dee Ninis, an earthquake geologist, stated that "it was felt throughout Melbourne."

"There were numerous reports of the earthquake, which happened at 11:41 p.m. At this moment, there have been no reports of injuries or damage.

The emergency service issued a warning, instructing locals to "drop, cover, and hold on" in the event of an aftershock.

While live on air, SEN 1116 radio host Damian Watson also experienced tremors.

"We've experienced a tremor in the studio, I'm not sure if you have it at home. That felt like a bit of an earthquake," he said.

Social media was flooded with locals who wanted to share their earthquake experiences.

Sasha Petrova, a journalist and author, remarked: "My house just shook so violently I thought several bombs had exploded."

Petrova added that it felt more like "two violent one-second shakes close together, with some books falling off the shelf," rather than the "trembling of an earthquake."

One startled Twitter user said he had been "woken up" by the tremor while shooting a video from the terrace showing the lights of the nearby buildings switched on.

He exclaimed, "The whole house was shaking!"

“My phone alerted me with safety information, shaken and got up to check on my family, alhamdulillah all ok!" he said.

Android phone owners in the impacted region got automatic alerts saying: "Expect minor shaking. M4.5 is initially thought to be 21.6 miles away."

Corey Lainez, a 41-year-old resident of Sunbury, told The Age that the earthquake damaged his kitchen's wall.

"I thought a car or truck had hit the house and before I could even stand up the dogs were running around the house barking," he said.

"It was one very big, violent shake," he added.

Victoria, another part of Australia, previously experienced a 6.0 magnitude earthquake back in September 2021.