Victorian earthquake leaves ‘a war zone’ in Melbourne

Emergency officials warn aftershocks could last for months after a magnitude-5.9 quake in Victoria’s northeast.

Debris litters Chapel Street, Windsor, after the quake partially demolished a burger shop. Picture: Mark Stewart

The largest earthquake recorded in Victoria shook homes and damaging buildings as tremors reached Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Tasmania.

Emergency officials warned that aftershocks could last for months after the magnitude-5.9 quake between Mansfield and Rawson in Victoria’s northeast triggered several smaller earthquakes on Wednesday. Buildings began shaking in Melbourne’s CBD at 9.15am, with the tremor lasting about 40 seconds.

The popular Chapel Street shopping strip in Melbourne’s inner south was hit hardest, with the walls of a Betty’s Burger restaurant in Windsor partially collapsing, spewing bricks and debris on to the street.

The company’s managing director, Troy McDonagh, said no staff was inside the building at the time and the Windsor restaurant would likely be closed for at least four months of repairs.

Zume Phim, the owner of the neighbouring Oppen cafe, said he ran on to the street as the earthquake struck. “The whole building was shaking,” he said. “All the windows, the glass, were shaking – like a wave of shaking.”

Melbourne’s tram network between South Yarra and Balaclava was suspended into Wednesday night from earthquake damage.

Across town in Fitzroy, the popular Brunswick Street strip was also badly affected, with roofs and chimneys collapsing.

 

Minor damage was also reported in suburbs across the city including Kensington, Ascot Vale, Prahran, Parkdale, Elsternwick, West Melbourne and Balwyn.

About 35,000 people in Melbourne and parts of regional Victoria temporarily lost power, with emergency services receiving 145 calls for help throughout the day.

A damaged building on Chapel Street in Prahran in inner Melbourne. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Tim Wiebusch, the chief operating officer of State Emergency Service, said the earthquake was the largest recorded in Victoria and the damage could have been worse if Melbourne had not been in lockdown. “That could have been a lot worse in Chapel Street today if it had been a busy Saturday morning or the like,” he said.

 

Mr Wiebusch said previously the largest earthquake recorded in Victoria was magnitude-5.3 in Gippsland.

The town of Mansfield, some 190km northeast of Melbourne, escaped relatively unscathed despite being near the epicentre of the 10km-deep earthquake.

Mansfield Shire Council mayor Mark Holcombe, who was at home at his farm when the earthquake struck, said it sounded like the rumbling of a truck. “You could hear it right across the valley and the birdlife really erupted,” he said.

“The native animals knew something was amiss.”

At the Mount Buller alpine resort, footage showed skiers on shaking slopes, with tremors triggering landslides and damaging buildings in Rawson and Woods Point in the state’s northeast.

 

Deputy Premier James Mer­lino said his wife was at a health centre with their children, who were receiving Covid-19 vaccin­ations, when the quake struck, “They felt it, so it was felt right across Melbourne and in many parts of regional Victoria,” he said. “This was quite a significant event and quite scary for a lot of people.”

Debris in Wattle Street, Prahran. Picture: Mark Stewart

The earthquake triggered eight smaller quakes near the epicentre area of Mansfield.

Geosciences Australia seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said it was likely aftershocks would continue to be smaller but there was the possibility for another large earthquake.

“Every aftershock sequence is a little bit different and you can get another larger earthquake,” he said. “A whole lot of stress is being released along that fault line and that fault line is basically finding an equilibrium again.”

 

Mr Bathgate said the Mansfield earthquake was the largest earthquake in Australia since the magnitude-6.1 rattler in the Peaker­mann Ranges in the central Australian desert in 2016.

He said Wednesday’s earthquake had the potential to leave more damage as it was closer to urban regions than the Peakermann Ranges quake. “It’s certainly the most significantly felt earthquake in Australia in a long time,” he said.

Emergency Management Victoria Commissioner Andrew Crisp advised anyone caught in an aftershock to take cover under something sturdy and hold on until the shaking stopped.