‘Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do’: Seismologist’s warning to Victorians

A seismologist says Victorians should always be concerned as dozens of earthquakes rock the state each week.

At least nine earthquakes have struck Victoria since the beginning of this year, leaving many residents questioning why tremors seem more constant all of a sudden.

The latest shake happened on Monday evening, with its epicentre near Foster – 174 km southeast of Melbourne – at a magnitude of 2.7, according to the federal government’s Geoscience Australia website.

About 12 people in the area reported feeling the ground shake, with the mini quake following a similar one in Mornington on June 6, with 146 people declaring they felt the 2.4 magnitude tremor.

Other tremors have been felt mostly in Croydon, Sandy Point, Boort in the state’s northwest and Omeo, with the largest quake since September 2021 occurring in Sunbury on May 29.

A magnitude 2.8 earthquake has been recorded with an epicentre near Foster, Victoria. The earthquake occurred at 8:29pm with widespread felt reports. No injuries or damage has been recorded at this time. For more info, visit https://t.co/cN9vhwkQEXpic.twitter.com/zdCamiHzrC

— VICSES News (@vicsesnews) June 12, 2023

Just over 27,000 Australians told Geoscience Australia they felt the 3.8 magnitude earthquake that happened 2 km below ground.

Melburnians reported hearing a loud bang as their houses shook for a few seconds, with many taking to social media in search of information on what they just felt.

While the earthquakes that have occurred more recently haven’t been felt as widely, authorities across the state, such as SES Victoria and the Seismology Research Centre, continue to take to social media to report such earth tremors.

But among the comments of these posts, some Victorians have expressed their concern about why the state suddenly seems to be having more earthquakes.

“What’s with all the earthquakes (in Victoria), is this normal?” one person asked the Seismology Research Centre on Facebook.

Meanwhile other frequent remarks made to the Victoria SES Twitter page include “not again” and “not another one!”.

Victoria has recorded at least nine earthquakes that have been felt across the state since the start of this year. Picture: news.com.au

The ‘most seismically active region’ in the country

Dr Hadi Ghasemi, senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, told news.com.au Victoria has had more than 300 earthquakes in the last ten years.

“(Victoria) is a part of the Australian South East Highland region and as a matter of fact, it’s one of the most seismically active regions in Australia,” he said.

Because of this, the state can record up to 40 earthquakes a week, however they’re not all felt very often, Seismology Research Centre Seismologist Adam Pascale said.

He added that due to technology helping Victorians share information more quickly, there’s a greater tendency for earthquakes that are felt to be reported as soon as they happen.

Meanwhile Dr Ghasemi assumed the establishment of reporting systems like “Earthquakes@GA” has also led to an increase in awareness about the earthquakes.

Websites Research Data Australia and Wayback Machine suggest the platform — which was established in May 2018 — has made it easier to report earthquakes in Australia in the last five years.

Therefore, Victoria hasn’t necessarily had more earthquakes than usual — rather, there have been more reports of tremors due to the access we have to technology.

Sunbury’s 3.8 magnitude earthquake late last month was felt in parts of Tasmania. Photo: Geoscience Australia Twitter

Why Victorians should ‘always be concerned’ about quakes

Australia is known as a “stable region” because it’s far from the active boundary, which means it’s less likely to encounter large magnitude quakes like the ones we see overseas.

However, just because the state encounters lower magnitude tremors it doesn’t necessarily mean Victorians are in a safer position then their New Zealand counterparts, for example.

“Living in a stable continent like Australia, you should always be concerned,” Dr Ghasemi said.

“The problem is because we don’t have as many larger spikes, we tend to forget about them and that’s the real danger.”

Dr Ghasemi is worried not only Victoria, but the country, which isn’t ready for a large tremor that could see infrastructure crumble under the pressure.

“There’s an old saying: earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do, so it’s a matter of our readiness when it does happen,” he said.

“I’m not saying there will be a big (earthquake), but we shouldn’t forget about the possibility of having a big one.”

Bricks littered Chapel Street in Melbourne on September 22, 2021, after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake. Picture: William West / AFP

A matter of ‘chance’

While he can’t say for certain whether the current earthquake trend in Victoria will continue, Dr Ghasemi said with Victoria’s history it wouldn’t be uncommon to feel more tremors in the future.

“I think my answer would be, you never know,” he responded when asked about the future of earthquakes in Victoria.

“Just very recently, in 2021, we had a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in Woods Point, which is, I think, a couple of 100 kilometres north of (Monday’s Foster quake) that we had a magnitude 2.7.

“It’s a distribution by chance, and this is the best way we can model it.”

The best way to prepare an earthquake is to revise what to do when everything starts shaking.

“Australia does indeed have earthquakes and that we should remember to drop, cover and hold on if we feel strong shaking to avoid injury from falling objects,” Mr Pascale said.

Originally published as ‘Earthquakes don’t kill people, buildings do’: Seismologist’s warning to Victorians