Sonali Tiwary
A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck near Leongatha in Victoria’s Gippsland region at 2:01am on October 3, waking residents across Melbourne and the surrounding region. Geoscience Australia logged close to 21,000 felt reports — a high count for an event that produced no major structural damage or injuries at the time of the latest agency updates.
The Victoria earthquake was centred near the town of Arawata, close to Korumburra and Leongatha, at a depth of approximately 10 kilometres. Two aftershocks followed: a magnitude 3.1 at 2:56am and a magnitude 2.5 at 12:25pm on the same day. No significant structural damage had been reported and no injuries were recorded at the time of the latest updates.
After any earthquake, smaller aftershocks are possible in the days and weeks that follow. Geoscience Australia has already recorded two. Further minor aftershocks remain possible but are not certain. Geoscience Australia described the event as a shallow, moderate earthquake.
If you felt the earthquake and are uncertain whether your property sustained damage, check for visible cracks in walls, ceilings and foundations — particularly at corners and around door and window frames — and inspect chimneys, roof tiles and external brickwork. If anything concerns you, contact a licensed structural assessor before assuming the damage is cosmetic. Older brick and masonry structures can be more vulnerable to minor seismic movement than modern timber or steel-framed construction.
A shallow depth of approximately 10 kilometres can contribute to stronger shaking near the surface. This helps explain why the Melbourne earthquake registered close to 21,000 felt reports despite causing limited physical damage — the shaking was widespread without being severe enough to compromise engineered structures.
The Gippsland region sits within one of south-eastern Australia’s more seismically active zones. Victoria experienced a magnitude 5.9 earthquake near Mansfield in September 2021. Because earthquake energy rises exponentially with magnitude, that event released roughly 45 times more energy than Saturday’s magnitude 4.8 earthquake. The 2021 event caused damage to some older structures in regional towns.
Australia sits on one of the world’s more stable continental plates, but intraplate earthquakes occur regularly in the south-east. Geoscience Australia tracks and publishes real-time seismic data nationally.
Geoscience Australia is continuing to monitor the region for aftershocks. If you experience further shaking in the Gippsland area, you can submit a felt report through the Geoscience Australia website. Updates will follow if significant aftershocks are recorded.
