Residents in Melbourne’s east were woken by a 2.7 magnitude earthquake on Tuesday night.
The earthquake struck at 11.40pm, about 10 kilometres north of the outer-eastern suburb of Pakenham, between Army Road and Pakenham Road.
The quake was felt 50 kilometres from its epicentre, with more than 300 Melbourne residents reporting feeling the effects of the tremor and an aftershock, which hit about 3am.
No damage or injuries have been reported, but some locals have told radio station 3AW the quake felt more like an explosion.
Pakenham resident Marleen said she was woken when her bed started shaking.
“We were just in bed and all of a sudden the whole house vibrated and the bed cracked and the dogs went crazy,” she said.
Meanwhile, Darren said he felt the quake 40 kilometres away in Rowville.
“What a shudder that was,” he said.
“You feel it roaring up from Narre Warren, straight through Rowville and then it whistled up I think towards Ringwood. It sort of pushed the whole house to the north. It was incredible.”
Katie said she was also woken by the shaking.
“It was such a shock. It came across so quickly and just went so quickly. I did definitely feel the bed move,” she said.
Lynne, from the suburb of Officer near Pakenham, said she felt the aftershock just after 3am.
“[It was] a very loud rumbling noise that lasted three or four seconds,” she said.
Geoscience Australia had received more than 300 reports from residents who felt the earthquake by 7am on Wednesday.
“The system here didn’t pick it up, but what did alert the duty seismologist were emails from people saying they had felt something happening,” seismologist Steven Tatham said.
“The duty seismologist was able to locate a 2.7 magnitude earthquake that occurred just before midnight.”
The last earthquake recorded in Melbourne was a 3.2 magnitude quake that hit Pakenham on December 4 last year.
Nine earthquakes have been recorded in the Pakenham area in the past 50 years, of which December’s was the largest.
The south-eastern part of Australia is part of a seismic area known as the “south-east seismogenic zone”. Tuesday night’s tremor was an “intraplate” earthquake caused by a build-up of pressure by the northward movement of the Indo-Australian tectonic plate.
The state’s largest recorded quake was a 5.7 magnitude rocker that shook Mount Hotham in May 1966. The most recent earthquake that measured above a magnitude 5 was the 5.4 quake that hit Moe in June 2012.
Pakenham residents have been advised to check for cracks or damage to their roof, walls and chimneys. Residents who find any damage are advised to turn off the power, gas and water at the mains and contact the State Emergency Service on 132 500.
