A magnitude 3.9 earthquake occurred near Ensay, Australia — ABC News Australia

A magnitude 3.9 earthquake was recorded in the eastern part of the Australian state of Victoria near Ensay on Saturday evening. Its epicentre was located about 350 kilometres east of Melbourne. As ABC News Australia reports, it was the strongest earthquake recorded in the Victorian High Country area in more than a decade.

Residents of nearby towns felt the tremors

Geoscience Australia received 346 reports from people who felt the earthquake. Residents of the nearby town of Swifts Creek said the tremors shook their homes.

Local resident Stephen Richardson said he initially thought a tree had fallen behind his house. According to him, he heard a rumble moving through the valley that resembled the sound of heavy machinery on the highway towards Omeo. Richardson added that his house was not damaged.

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Another Swifts Creek resident, Ray Gallagher, said the tremors made glass rattle in his home. Due to the stormy weather, residents initially assumed that lightning might have struck a nearby tree.

Possible aftershocks

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Jonathan Griffin said that 27 earthquakes had been recorded within a 100-kilometre radius of Ensay over the past decade, but Saturday's was the strongest. According to him, tremors of this strength are not particularly large, but people close to the epicentre could have felt significant shaking.

Griffin explained that Australia is located in the central part of a tectonic plate that moves by about 7 centimetres a year and is compressed by forces at plate boundaries. The stress caused by this movement periodically triggers earthquakes in south-eastern Australia. He noted that aftershocks are possible in the coming days or weeks, while earthquakes cannot be predicted.