Melbourne was shaken on Sunday night when a 3.8 magnitude earthquake occurred at 11.41 pm near Wildwood.
Geoscience Australia confirmed approximately 25,000 people reported they felt the earthquake, which had a depth of about two kilometres.
Seismology Research Centre chief scientist Adam Pascale tweeted the earthquake was the largest within 40 kilometres of Melbourne in over 120 years.
Mr Pascale said the last earthquake that was larger and occurred within 40 kilometres of Melbourne was in 1902, and had a magnitude of 4.5.
Mr Pascale, who is based in Melbourne, said the earthquake woke him up and he felt five to 10 seconds of minor shaking.
Mr Pascale said damage usually occurs when earthquakes are above four or five in magnitude but this event may have caused some cosmetic or structural issues as it was quite swallow and close to the city.
“We can start to see damage at this sort of level of earthquake and above,” he told ABC TV on Monday.
“This earthquake is about 100 times smaller than the one two years ago in September 2021, but it was a lot closer to Melbourne. So it was felt in a similar intensity but for a shorter duration.”
In a Sunbury SES Facebook post, users commented they heard a bang and felt rumbling and shaking.
Wildwood CFA said in a Facebook comment it was a little shaken up but still here.
Victoria’s SES state commander David Baker said his crews had only received three calls for help following the quake.
“We were fortunate that there was no damage or consequences as a result of the earthquake last night,” Mr Baker told ABC News.
Geoscience Australia said it received reports of the earthquake being felt throughout Victoria, as well as in Hobart and Albury.
On average, around 100 earthquakes of magnitude three or larger are recorded in Australia each year.
Zoe Moffatt with AAP
