Australia struck by 6.0-magnitude earthquake: What you need to know

Picture Courtesy: Sky news

Australia’s second-largest city of Melbourne was struck by a 6.0-magnitude earthquake on Wednesday. This was one of the biggest earthquakes the country has ever recorded. The quake caused damages to some buildings, however, no loss of life was reported.

The epicenter was near the rural town of Mansfield in Victoria, about 124 miles northeast of the city of Melbourne. There are multiple photos and footage of buildings being damaged. Many places in the affected area lost power and had to evacuate the buildings.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said, "We have had no reports of serious injuries, or worse, and that is very good news and we hope that good news will continue. It can be a very disturbing event, an earthquake of this nature. They are very rare events in Australia and as a result, I am sure people would have been quite distressed and disturbed.”

The shaking was felt even in the neighboring states and was felt as far away as the city of Adelaide, which is 500 miles west of Sydney. However, there were no reports of any damage outside the city of Melbourne.

Earthquakes are unusual in the eastern part of Australia due to its location in the middle of the Indo-Australian Tectonic Plate. The last major earthquake to hit the country was in 1989, when a 5.6-magnitude earthquake in Newcastle, New South Wales killed 13 people. The Bureau of Meteorology said that there is no threat of Tsunami.