Biggest earthquake in three years rattles Victoria

The biggest earthquake to hit the state in three years has woken sleepers in regional Victoria and rattled Melburnians in the early hours of Saturday.

The magnitude 4.8 tremor was recorded by Geoscience Australia just after 2am with an epicentre six kilometres north-east of the Gippsland town of Korumburra, which is about 103 kilometres south-east of Melbourne.

Kardella resident Jack Gilchrist lives about five kilometres from the epicentre, and captured the earthquake on his driveway CCTV.

A loud bang could be heard as the trees lining his property can be seen shaking back and forth.

“It was terrifying,” he told this masthead.

“It sounded like a plane had crashed outside. We’ve never experienced anything like it.”

Seismology Research Centre chief scientist Adam Pascale warned that the seismic activity is far from over.

He has recorded dozens of aftershocks, the largest measuring 3.1 at 2.56am.

“I can see [aftershocks] popping off every couple of minutes and they’ll probably go on for weeks,” he said.

“There’s potential for another of similar, or potentially larger, magnitude in the first few days or weeks afterwards.”

Victorians across the state were shaken awake as far as Newport in Melbourne’s west and Whittlesea in the city’s north-east.

Michelle Wade said she woke up to her Armadale apartment building and bed shaking.

“I could hear things falling down hitting the apartment floor above me,” she said. “It’s not something you expect when you’re sleeping. It definitely took me a while to settle my nerves.”

Jane Barnes thought she was hearing possums on the roof until she felt the floor shaking beneath her feet in Caulfield South.

“The windows shook and the whole house creaked. I couldn’t sleep after that one! Scary, scary!”

Geoscience Australia seismologist Dr Hadi Ghasemi said the quake was one of the strongest the region has felt for two decades.

He encouraged Victorians to share their experience feeling the “shallow, moderate” earthquake through the website.

“[First-hand reports] are useful information … they are enabling us to constrain otherwise purely empirical modelling of the ground shaking.”

The Victoria State Emergency Service have not received any requests for assistance and there has been no reports of building damage.

More than 16,000 reports of the initial quake have already been lodged with GeoScience Australia.

The federal government agency reported the tremor had a depth of 10 kilometres.

Seismic activity has spiked in Victoria since a magnitude 5.9 earthquake in September 2021 damaged buildings in Melbourne and was felt across south-eastern Australia.

That was the largest recorded within metropolitan Melbourne for 120 years.

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake on the Great Ocean Road rattled parts of Melbourne in October 2023, and Saturday’s quake was the state’s largest since then.

In June 2023, more than 10,000 people reported feeling a magnitude 4.6 quake with an epicentre near Mount Baw Baw.

More recently, in August last year, hundreds of people were shaken awake by a magnitude 3.2 earthquake on the Mornington Peninsula.

Experts have previously told this masthead these tremors were part of normal seismic activity in the aftermath of the September 2021 earthquake.

“Tonight’s earthquake is a timely reminder to know what to do when an earthquake occurs,” the SES said.

“Drop to the ground, cover under a sturdy piece of furniture and protect your head and neck [and] hold on until the shaking stops.”

Anyone in need of assistance is advised to call the SES on 132 500.

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Lachlan Abbott is a crime reporter at The Age. He was previously a city reporter and covered breaking news.Connect via email.