A strong earthquake has hit Victoria shaking the countries south-east and damaging buildings in the heart of Melbourne.
The epicenter of the 5.8 earthquake is near Mansfield, at the foothills of the states high country, but it has been felt in Canberra, Newcastle, Dubbo, Adelaide, and Tasmania.
A second magnitude-4 earthquake was recorded near Mansfield about 15 minutes after the first.
In Melbourne a building's brick façade has collapsed onto Chapel Street and there are reports of power outages in the Northern suburbs.
Workers in Newcastle have evacuated from buildings along Honeysuckle as a precaution after feeling tremors.
The earthquake in Melbourne was stronger than the one that hit Newcastle in 1989, which measured at 5.6 on the Richter scale, left 13 dead and caused, at the time $4 billion in damages.
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| Pictured: A building in Melbourne following the quake Image: Nine News |
