Footage of damaged buildings, after 6.0-magnitude quake strikes Australia (VIDEO)

A 6.0-magnitude earthquake has struck Australia’s southern coast, according to local authorities, inflicting significant damage, as seen in videos circulating online, including in Melbourne, the country’s second-largest city.

The quake hit at around 9.15am local time on Wednesday and was recorded at a magnitude of 6 by Geoscience Australia, which noted that there was currently no tsunami threat to the region. 

Photos and videos have emerged on social media purporting to show the aftermath of the earthquake, which appeared to have damaged some buildings in Melbourne, the streets of which were seen strewn with rubble. No casualties have been reported.

A local news broadcast was interrupted by the quake, with shaking visible in the footage as staff evacuated the studio and one of the presenters heard noting, “That was a big one.” Other videos showed city residents caught off guard by the jolt.

While the extent of the damage from the quake as yet remains unclear, it was reportedly among the largest to hit land in Australia in decades, rivaling a 2016 seism in the Petermann mountain range, which fortunately occurred in a sparsely populated region, avoiding the catastrophic damage that could have resulted had it struck elsewhere. The largest quake ever recorded in the country was in 1988 – a 6.6-magnitude jolt that also hit a largely unpopulated area, it nonetheless inflicted damage to a major gas line.

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