Australia: an earthquake sows panic in Melbourne, unaccustomed to earthquakes – franceinfo

Australia woke up with a start. An earthquake of magnitude 5.9 struck, Wednesday, September 22 in the morning, the south-east of Australia. Enough to shake the buildings of Melbourne and make panicked residents run out, in a region not used to earthquakes.

The earthquake, which occurred only ten kilometers deep, surprised residents of Australia’s second largest city at 9 a.m. (1 a.m. in France) and was felt hundreds of kilometers away. all around. Rescue services have received calls for help as far as Dubbo, about 700 kilometers from the epicenter.

The United States Institute for Geological Studies (USGS) put the magnitude at 5.8, before revising it to 5.9. Scenes of panicked residents leaving homes have invaded social networks. Among them, Zume Phim, 33, owner of Melbourne’s Oppen cafe, rushed into the streets when the quake hit. “The whole building was shaking. All the windows, the glass were shaking, like a wave of tremors”, he told AFP.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison, responding from New York, insisted there were no casualties or significant damage. He nevertheless conceded the side “very disturbing” earthquake for the population, in an area not used to tremors like Australia. It is the biggest earthquake in south-eastern Australia in years, Mike Sandiford, a geologist at the University of Melbourne, told AFP.