Damage to the exterior of Betty’s Burgers on Chappel Street in Melbourne following the earthquake. Source: AAP
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has been reported in Victoria, with tremors felt across Melbourne and as far away as Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, and Tasmania.
The epicentre of the quake, which hit at around 9:15am AEST on Wednesday at a depth of 10km, was in Mansfield, about 180km northeast of Melbourne, Geoscience Australia says.
There have been six aftershocks since, between 2.4 and 4.1 on the Richter scale and further tremors are expected for some time after.
There have been no reports of injuries, but damage was reported across metropolitan Melbourne and the Mansfield township, while Beechworth hospital lost power.
“Chapel Street, we saw a wall collapsed there and we saw a facade collapse in Brunswick Road in Fitzroy which are probably the two more significant, but there have been a range of chimneys and other minor structural damage across the state,” Mr Wiebusch said.
Betty’s Burgers on Chapel Street suffered damage to its building, but it’s been confirmed no staff were inside at the time.
There was also damage to the brickwork at Coles on Wattle Street in Prahan.
Movement was also felt in Geelong, at Canberra’s Parliament House, Sydney’s CBD, northern Tasmania and parts of South Australia.
Victoria’s Deputy Premier James Merlino said Geoscience “has confirmed that there is a possibility that we may receive further aftershocks” and there was a potential risk of more earthquakes.
