Mw5.9 Woods Point VIC Earthquake

The largest earthquake in Victoria since record-keeping began occurred on Wednesday 22 September 2021 at 9:15 AEST (2021-09-21 @ 2315 UTC), 130km east of Melbourne, between Woods Point and Licola North in the Gippsland region. This earthquake is also the largest on-shore Australian event since the Mw6.1 Petermann Ranges earthquake (2016-05-20 @ 1814 UTC).

Technical information about this earthquake can be found at the Geoscience Australia event page, including the intensity report previewed in the image.

The Seismology Research Centre has processed several hundred aftershocks in the days following the main shock, with one magnitude 4.2, several in the magnitude 3 range, and dozens of magnitude 2 events.

Damage was sustained in Melbourne, the most significant being the collapse of an unreinforced masonry (URM) wall in Chapel Street, Prahran at the Betty’s Burgers building. Numerous chimney collapses were reported around suburban Melbourne, but many old brick chimneys in the epicentral area were unaffected. There was relatively little shaking near the epicentre, likely due to the strike-slip rupture mechanism of this earthquake, and the fact that most local structures are constructed on bedrock.

EERI have set up a clearing house for information about this earthquake, with the first resource posted being an information sheet compiled by Mark Quigley from the University of Melbourne. Additional resources will be available shortly and we would welcome further contributions from AEES members by emailing information to Adam Pascale who is one of the EERI contact points for this earthquake.