QUAKES SHAKE AUSTRALIA

[tropicana]

3 EARTHQUAKES SHAKE AUSTRALIA
TREMOR SHAKES MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Fri March 6 2009

The earth tremor that rocked the centre of Melbourne was one of three quakes that hit Australia in the one day, a seismologist says.
Melbourne residents reported buildings shaking across the metropolitan area when a tremor struck at 8.55pm Friday.

Geoscience Australia, which monitors earthquake activity, said the tremor measured magnitude 4.6 on the Richter scale, with the epicentre at Korumburra, about 90 kilometres southeast of Melbourne.
The US Geological Survey reported on its website the tremor measured 4.7.

Geoscience Australia's duty seismologist Phil Cummins said residents across a wide area felt the Melbourne tremor - one of three quakes to hit Australia that day.
"There were many reports from across a wide area - this was felt across a 100km radius," he said.

"It was certainly a moderate earthquake that was likely to be felt across a wide area but is unlikely to have caused any damage, except possibly some minor damage near the epicentre."

He said tremors were also felt near Broome in WA and near Beacon in WA's wheatbelt.
Those were both close to magnitude five. They occurred in remote areas so they were felt by far fewer people than the Melbourne one. But it is quite remarkable that there were three tremors of roughly the same size in the one day.

Victorian State Emergency Service spokesman Allen Briggs said the service was inundated with phone calls from the public after the Melbourne tremor but there had been no reports of any damage.
"It was certainly enough to rattle windows and we've had reports it was felt in metropolitan Melbourne and as far down as Warragul and Leongatha in Gippsland," Mr Briggs said. Residents in Reservoir, in Melbourne's north, and householders in the Dandenong Ranges east of the city, reported feeling the tremor shortly before 9pm.

-justin-

[tropicana]

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA HIT BY TREMOR AGAIN
Wed Mar 18 2009

MELBOURNE:
A second 4.6 earthquake has hit Korumburra, shaking buildings and homes across Melbourne and leaving scientists at a loss to explain why the town has been struck twice in two weeks.
Today's quake struck at 4.28pm, five kilometres north-west of Korumburra, 90 kilometres south-east of Melbourne and at the same spot where a 4.6 magnitude quake occurred on March 6.
Geoscience Australia seismologist Spiro Spiliopoulos said science could not predict if another quake would jolt the town nestled in the hills of the Strzelecki Ranges.

Dr Spiliopoulos said the epicentre was estimated to be about 10 kilometres underground and the quake was caused by stresses in the Australian tectonic plate. The stresses are due to the Australian plate moving northward ... but being able to say why earthquakes occur on this particular spot, our science is not good enough yet to say why. All we know is we have an active fault there and quakes are occurring.

Dr Spiliopoulos said it was unusual but not unheard of for a quake to hit the same place twice within such a short time.
The quake was felt up to 200 kilometres away from Korumburra but there were no immediate of reports of damage.
People reported feeling today's quake in the CBD, Box Hill, Footscray, Heathmont, Warrandyte, Glen Waverley, Emerald, Port Melbourne, St Kilda, Warragul and Phillip Island.

Four aftershocks of magnitude 3 or above have been recorded in Korumburra since March 6 and Dr Spiliopoulos said there would have been hundreds more not strong enough to have been felt. This afternoon's quake lasted up to 10 seconds and was followed by a 10-minute blackout in the town.