Earthquake

Well now. That was an exciting start to the day.

I was at work yesterday morning, just after 9:00, talking to someone on the phone when my chair started to sway, my computer began to rock and the building shook. This is unusual in Australia. It's certainly unusual in Reservoir. Everyone was evacuated out of the shopping complex to the far side of the car park. It caused a certain level of consternation among people who have not encountered earthquakes before. 

The seismologists say that we get lots of small earth tremors each year. Mostly only the seismologists notice them. We hardly ever get proper earthquakes that shake buildings, although we do get tremors that make the ground shake from time to time. They cause excitement enough.

We were allowed back into the building after about 30 minutes when it became clear that there was unlikely to be any structural damage to the shopping complex. I was ready for a cup of tea by then. It was cold in the carpark!

I didn't know until yesterday that Australia doesn't sit on the edge of a tectonic plate. I didn't know that there is an active seismometer in Mount Clear. I definitely didn't know that Victoria sits in an active volcanic region. There are no currently active volcanoes in Australia but I suppose the hot springs around Daylesford should have suggested some sort of volcanic activity. To me, at least. The seismologists and vulcanologists had already noticed.

The earthquake was felt far and wide around Victoria, and as far afield as Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Launceston in Northern Tasmania. It was noticed in Ballarat. It was not noticed at Hill House or at Tani, where both Ian and Jim were completely oblivious until their wives rang them from the Reservoir car park to tell them about it!

In other news, Ballarat has yo yo-ed its way back out of lockdown. Once again we are free to go out at will. To maintain balance, however, Geelong and two shires have gone into a week's lockdown. It can be a bit confusing, just where we can and can't go in the state. I can, though, if I am minded, go to Hepburn, near Daylesford, and look at hot springs.