A 4.6-magnitude earthquake has rattled residents in regional Victoria, with thousands of people feeling the early morning tremor.
Geoscience Australia said the earthquake struck at 1.32 a.m. on Friday near Rawson, a small town around 150km east of Melbourne.
More than 9000 people had reported feeling the earthquake by 8.30 a.m., including many residents in the Victorian capital’s eastern suburbs.
A Victorian SES spokeswoman told AAP on Friday morning there were no reported injuries or property damage.
The earthquake follows a series of recent tremors across the region over the past month, including a 4.0-magnitude earthquake in late May.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Bathgate said the earthquake was the latest in a series of aftershocks from the 2021 magnitude-5.9 quake that struck the town of Mansfield.
“This is a part of that aftershock sequence, and it is possible that there will be others to follow,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.
Elodie Borleis from the Seismology Research Centre said the increase in tremors across the state was normal.
“There’s been no reported damage so far; people have just reported feeling it and hearing it,” she told ABC TV.
“This is very normal; yes, we’ve had an increase in the last couple of years of people actually feeling them, but the actual background seismicity hasn’t changed at all.”
A 2.4-magnitude earthquake was reported in the Mornington Peninsula on June 3, and days prior, residents in Sunbury reported a 3.8-magnitude earthquake on May 29.
Residents were rattled by a 4.0-magnitude earthquake across Melbourne on May 28, and a 2.3-magnitude earthquake with a depth of about 4km was felt in Ferntree Gully on May 16.
