Sandy Point earthquake: 3.0 magnitude quake shakes Wilsons Promontory in Victoria

An earthquake with a magnitude of 3.0 struck Victoria’s Gippsland region on Monday night, shaking Sandy Point, close to Wilsons Promontory.

The tremor, which occurred at around 7:54 p.m., was confirmed by Geoscience Australia which had 84 reports from Australians who felt the quake.

The earthquake occurred at a depth of approximately 10km.

While the tremor was relatively small, it is the latest in a series of seismic events to impact Victoria this month.

On August 7, a 4.1 magnitude earthquake rattled Victoria’s high country.

That tremor centred near Woods Point, was identified as an aftershock from the record-breaking 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck the region in September 2021.

The 2021 quake caused significant damage in Melbourne and was felt as far away as Canberra, Sydney, and Adelaide.

Professor Phil Cummins, a senior seismologist at Geoscience Australia, explained that aftershocks like the one in Woods Point are common following major earthquakes.

“The physical size of the earthquake was about 100th that of the earthquake that occurred in 2021,” he said. “The energy released would be about 900 times less than that previous earthquake.”

Since the 2021 earthquake, there have been about a dozen tremors in the area with magnitudes greater than three.

Cummins noted that aftershocks could continue for years or even decades after a significant seismic event, referencing the ongoing aftershocks from the Tenant Creek earthquakes in 1989, which are still being felt 35 years later.

For residents requiring assistance, the Victorian SES has advised calling 132 500.

- With AAP