A LETTERKENNY man living in Melbourne has spoken of the moment the city began to shake. South east Australia was rocked by a 5.9 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, damaging buildings and causing mass panic.
Unlike neighbouring New Zealand, quakes are uncommon in Australia and yesterday’s was the largest to hit the country in years. Mike Toner is from Ballyraine in Letterkenny and has lived in Melbourne since 2003.
“Everyone felt it,” the musician told the Donegal News.
“It was about 9.30am here and I had just been for a run. I go for a coffee every morning and me and my dog were on our street on the way home again when suddenly everything started shaking. You could see people starting to leave their buildings because they were shaking.
“I’m in loads of WhatsApp groups due to work, running and other things and my phone just started lighting up.”
Melbourne’s popular Chapel Street shopping precinct was among the areas damaged. The tremors caused some buildings there to partially collapse, sending rocks and debris crashing on to footpaths and roads.
Attention now has turned to the risk of aftershocks and residents have been advised to steer clear of tall buildings.
“I’ve experienced tremors in the past but nothing of this magnitude,” said Mike.“New Zealand gets really bad quakes but this sort of thing doesn’t usually happen here.”
The earthquake only added to the turmoil already gripping Melbourne. In recent days the city has seen mass protests with thousands of people taking to the streets in opposition to a shutdown of construction sites. There have been violent clashes over a requirement for staff to provide evidence they have received a vaccine dose to access their workplace.
Meanwhile a full lockdown, one of the longest imposed on any city in the world, remains in place. But in the wake of the earthquake and the fact no one was killed or seriously injured, closed offices and shops is being seen by some as a blessing.
Mike Toner said that in the space of a year Australia has gone from being held up as a model in terms of how to deal with the coronavirus to a country mired in uncertainty.
“The unfortunate thing is that this time last year Australia was being seen as one of the safest and best places to live. From January to May there was no Covid here while Europe was closing down.
“Now Australia is being viewed as this basket case of authoritarian rule and states being closed down because of one case.”
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