Melbourne Hit by 'Strongest Quake in 200 Years'

A magnitude 5.8 to 6.0 earthquake caused damage in the city of Melbourne on Wednesday in an unusually powerful temblor for Australia, Geoscience Australia said. The quake hit northeast of Australia’s second-most populous city near the town of Mansfield at a depth of 6 miles, Geoscience Australia said. Media showed images of damage to brickwork in Chapel Street in the inner suburb of South Yarra, the AP reports. No injuries were reported. Victoria state police warned of possible aftershocks and told people to avoid driving. The quake was also felt in neighboring states South Australia and New South Wales, reports the BBC.

Dr Jannuka Attanayake at the University of Melbourne’s Earthquake Seismology Earth Sciences unit tells the Guardian that if preliminary estimates are correct, this is the strongest quake to hit the area in 200 years. "If it’s a magnitude 6.0, it’s the first in hundreds of years," Attanayake says. "This is the first earthquake of this magnitude I have seen here during my lifetime, and it has probably not been seen during the lifetime of several generations.”

(More Australia stories.)