Earthquake near Stanhope ‘felt almost like a shock wave’

The earthquake occurred at a depth of 3km.

The quake was enough to see an alert sent out on the VicEmergency app for an earthquake at Rushworth.

Forty minutes after the quake, 14 people had recorded with Geoscience Australia that they had felt it.

From calling Stanhope and Rushworth businesses, it seemed hit and miss as to who felt the earthquake.

Many said they did not feel it, but others reported buildings and windows shaking from it.

Stephen Crilly was in his shed when he felt the earthquake at Carag Carag.

“It shook the windows,” he said.

“There was a loud bang and everything was shaking.”

Mr Crilly said it lasted for only a short time.

He said he did not know what it was, and it was not until an alert came up on the VicEmergency app on his phone that he realised what had happened.

Mr Crilly said one of his friends working in the Fonterra milk factory at Stanhope had messaged him to say he had also felt it.

Jess Richter, who lives on the outskirts of Rushworth, was at home and putting her child to bed when she felt the quake.

“Our whole house shook,” she said.

“It is stone and double brick.

“The ensuite wall shook, and my bed.”

“As soon as it happened I messaged my husband and said ‘that was an earthquake’.”

Ms Richter said occasionally the windows of the house would shake from training at the Puckapunyal Military Base, but this was different.

She said her husband, who was outside at the time, also felt it.

“He said it felt almost like a shock wave,” she said.

“He said he felt it come towards the house and then the house shook. Then he felt it go out.”

For Carol Gardiner, who lives 2km south of Stanhope, the earthquake produced a big sound, but it was over in a matter of seconds.

“I was sitting at the kitchen table having lunch,” Mrs Gardiner said.

“There was a big boom and all the windows shook.

“It didn’t last long, but it frightened me.”

Mrs Gardiner said she sometimes felt explosions from nearby quarries at her house, but this was not the same.

“This was different,” she said.

Rushworth’s Criterion Hotel owner, Kerrin Bartlett, also felt the earthquake, but not as strongly as many others.

She was in the pub at the time.

“The doors rattled a bit,” she said.

“I just put it down to our ghost rumbling around the place.

“I didn’t notice until someone said about the earthquake.”