By KATRINA BRANDON

 

FREQUENT rumbles are upon us.

Moe felt a 3.0-magnitude earthquake on Tuesday, February 3.

More than 27 reports were relayed to the Geoscience Australia site, earthquakes@ga, near Moondarra Reserve. The earthquake was recorded around 5pm.

Another was felt earlier in the day up north.

If fires weren’t enough, a 3.1-magnitude earthquake was also recorded in the Dargo-Briagalong area at 8.38am the same day.

Geoscience Australia Seismologist Hugh Glanville told the Express, “The magnitude three in Moe was felt a little more widely, from Moe over towards Melbourne.”

“Depending on the time of day, how shallow the earthquake is and where people are living, they can feel earthquakes at a further distance with these magnitude threes, which aren’t damaging, but can be felt widely if conditions are right for it to be felt that far.”

Collecting the data, Mr Glanville said this type of earthquake is relatively common in the region and isn’t unusual for the area.

He also said that they aren’t following up on any large earthquakes, nor has there been any aftershock recordings of any unusual magnitudes.

Recording “felt reports” on a broader scale, he said, there is sensitive instrumentation around the region, so that magnitude three earthquakes can be recorded up to 100 kilometres away.

Within 200km of the earthquake near Briagalong, Mr Glanville said that over the last 20 years, Geoscience Australia has recorded up to 300 earthquakes in the region, averaging 15 earthquakes a year, with the majority “quite small”.

The last significant earthquake to hit the Moe area was in June 2012, when a 5.4/5.5-magnitude earthquake was felt.

Coverage of the earthquake made the front page of the Express at the time. The 5.5 was the largest to hit in more than 100 years, according to coverage.

In more recent times, the largest earthquake recorded was a magnitude 5.9 on September 22, 2021, located near Woods Point, about 120km north of the Latrobe Valley.

The Express covered the quake, which was felt throughout Victoria and as far away as Canberra, Adelaide and Tasmania.

It was reported to be a shallow quake, reaching a depth of 10km, with a record 40,000 ‘felt reports’ recorded. Ten aftershocks, with magnitudes up to 4.1, were recorded in the days following the main earthquake, with authorities warning of more possible.

The 2021 earthquake was said to be the largest in the past 30 years, particularly in south-east Australia.

While results show that minor earthquakes have become more frequent in local areas, earthquakes can’t be “predicted” or measured to reassure people about when more will occur.

For more information, go to: https://earthquakes.ga.gov.au/