Earthquake felt in Ballarat

A FIVE point eight magnitude earthquake centred near Victorian alpine town Mansfield was felt across eastern Australia at 9.15am.

Minister for Education James Merlino said it was 10 kilometres deep.

“This was followed by three aftershocks; magnitude 5.5 at 9.40am, 4.0 at 9.55am and 3.1 at 10.15am,” he said.

“Geoscience have confirmed there is a possibility that we may receive further aftershocks and potential risk of further earthquakes. Indeed, more aftershocks could occur for weeks, if not months.”

Amy Watts was lying in bed in Ballarat at 9.15am when “everything started moving.”

“All my clothes on my clothing rack were moving, and I thought I was going crazy, or that the feeling was a reaction to my second COVID-19 vaccine yesterday,” she said.

“The doors were shaking, and then it just stopped, and I went to social media to see if anyone else felt it.”

Lake Wendouree resident Nicole Sutherland was sitting at her desk when the home office started to “wobble.”

“I felt the room shift. It was very odd, and I thought, “did I imagine that?” she said.

“I heard ABC News say there’d been a slight tremor in Melbourne, and I realised I was not going mad, I did actually feel that.”

At the time, Ms Sutherland’s stepson was on a phone call to someone in Sydney, who told him they were also feeling the tremor.

On a Twitter thread from the SBS, followers reported feeling it in Melbourne, Canberra, Gippsland, and Wye River.

Originally reported as 6.0 magnitude, this was revised to 5.8 later in the morning.