r/melbourne • u/matthew_anthony • Feb 27 '23
Letter in my mailbox this morning...appears some people ste unaware Australia rarely suffers earthquakes The Sky is Falling
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Feb 27 '23
Let me guess…” the answer is Jesus!”
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u/matthew_anthony Feb 27 '23
It be either this, or blaming Dan Andrews
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u/Taleya FLAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR Feb 27 '23
Fuck no that dude is heralded by tremors, he practically advertises it.
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Feb 27 '23
[deleted]
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u/CcryMeARiver Feb 27 '23
I'm safe. I always dispose of banana skins widdershins over the left shoulder in the time-honored way of deterring tigers at the G. Also magpies, kangaroos, saints and cats.
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u/Insertbloodynamehere Feb 27 '23
I thought you were supposed to discard them hubwards to deter tigers
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u/Guava7 Feb 27 '23
There has not been a fatal Tiger attack in Melbourne in recorded history
Untrue. There was a vicious mauling in Melbourne by some mighty Tigers of some pitiful Crows in September 2017, and again in 2019 to a group of happless vagabonds from western Sydney. The most recent Tiger mauling in Australia occurred in Queensland in October 2020 where some Cats had their hearts torn out. It was brutal and awesome.
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u/notchoosingone Suburban Dad Energy Feb 28 '23
Can I sell you this anti-tiger rock? It's only four payments of $249.95 each. Guaranteed to stop you from being killed by a tiger or your money cheerfully refunded.
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u/stivl Feb 27 '23
Haha we live in the same building and was just showing my partner. The “demand to know the truth” is giving my cooker energy.
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u/matthew_anthony Feb 27 '23
It's in every fucking mailbox. Imagine if they spent the same time researching earthquakes in Melbourne
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u/stivl Feb 27 '23
Very true. But also check back tomorrow to see a pile of them in the bin in the mailroom.
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u/SpasmociallySunny Feb 27 '23
Burn them in a sacrificial pile. It will appease the Pele (Goddess of Volcanos) and keep you all safe.
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u/dar_be_monsters Feb 27 '23
They sound like the kind of person that does their own research. They probably found some fanfic that involved an earthquake in Oz and thought it was the most reliable source.
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u/confuzzelducked Feb 27 '23
Imagine if they spent the time researching volcanoes under and around Melbourne, geez that would shock them!!!!
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u/it_fell_off_a_truck ☕️ Feb 27 '23
Maybe they’re still waiting on NBN and all they have is a computer and a printer with Windows 95.
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u/macandpleas Feb 27 '23
Hey neighbours! Been a while since a middle-of-the-night fire evacuation, might be a record
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u/aperture81 Feb 27 '23
This shit is on the rise in Australia.. they’re even pushing “mandatory vaccines via chemtrails” in QLD..
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u/IamEvilAMA Feb 27 '23
Set up a burner email and email them about weather control conspiracies setting off earthquakes
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u/sh3rv_00001 Feb 27 '23
Anyone else itching to see this person’s browser history?
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u/MyMemesAreTerrible Feb 27 '23
“Damn Andrews causes earthquake”
“YouTube earthquake effect”
“Where to go in earthquake”
“Sky News Andrew Bolt”
“How to use printer 2020”
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u/Mprosta Feb 27 '23
Imagine people just living their lives instead of being delusional and thinking they are saving our lives. Fuckin dumb cunts, just like my stupid parents stuck on this conspiracy shit. There is honestly no way to help them unless you lock them up or something. I have tried everything to help my parents, they still believe in all these stupid conspiracies and think they are doing us a favour by knowing about them and somehow protecting the public from harms way. If only they realised they are just hurting everyone around them including themselves and none of this shit even matters, because they can't control anything other then themselves. Even if all these conspiracies are real or fake they cannot do anything but scream at normal people living our lives. Anyway I wish I had my parents back, but I lost them early last year to these conspiracies and I can't do anything to try bring them back into reality.
Anyway thanks for reading my short story... I hope you don't have anyone close to you who believe in this shit too
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u/ohleprocy Feb 27 '23
Yes, my 21 year old son ffs. I am at a total loss as to how to bridge the gap. Fucking COVID just made it 1000 times worse.
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u/Mprosta Feb 27 '23
Sorry to hear. This might make things worse but maybe contact his friends and talk to them about it and maybe he will listen to them. I'm not sure what else to do, I've tried everything from interventions to setting up therapists in their house, but they refuse to budge and it makes things worse. Maybe the best way is to just leave them to work it out alone, idk. I gave up on my parents and told them that if they ever want a son again then they need to choose me or the conspiracies. They chose the conspiracies... I don't recommend doing this :(
I hope he comes around soon
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u/ohleprocy Feb 27 '23
I have the believe he will settle down. He wasn't working for a while and was stuck at home. He is working now so I just hope with exposure to different people with different world views will wisen him up. Sometimes as a Dad you're the last person they want to listen to. I get it, I was 21 once.
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u/therealburndog Feb 27 '23 edited Feb 27 '23
Yeah...I'm in my 40's and my best mate has been on the conspiracy rant for the last 15 years or so. It is unbelievable. Sadly with COVID a few other mates have "woken up" as well...so he feels like he was right all along. It's miserable stuff. I address every single piece of bullshit that he "researches" but it never gets through to him. I don't believe that he will ever stop being a cooker now that he is 50...but at the same time if I don't provide a 'sane' link to reality then he will only hear the noise of his little right-wing bubble...so I persist.
You can substitute data for articles, scientific studies, reports, peer-reviewed articles...or anything else...for example-Him - "The vaccine is a kill shot and doesn't work."Me - "Well...look at this data...it proves that the vaccine has been effective."Him - "The data is a lie."
You can substitute data for articles, scientific studies, reports, peer-reviewed articles...or anything else. You can also substitute COVID for Obama run FEMA Camps, Chemtrails, gun control, Pizzagate, QAnon or many other conspiracies popular within the American Far-Right (yet...he is Australian).
It's a sickness, and I can't find a cure.
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u/mng8ng Feb 27 '23
Put him in the quietest room in the world for a couple hours, that will change him for sure!
https://www.soundacousticsolutions.com/blog/2018/04/05/the-quietest-room-on-earth/
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u/Tommi_Af Feb 27 '23
As much as this person is probably paranoid, Australia absolutely experiences earthquakes capable of causing property damage, injury and death (e.g. Newcastle 1989 and Mansfield 2021). Of course these are significantly rarer than those experienced in regions closer to tectonic plate boundaries but we should not discount the possibility of more earthquakes occuring in Australia nor the possibility that they will impact our major population centres. Nonetheless, I believe our building standards are generally sufficient for the currently assessed risk levels in our region and the chances of widespread devastation seen in Turkey/Syria is extremely unlikely.
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
Recent earthquake in Victoria
Geoscience Australia can confirm that a 5.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded at 09.15 AEST, Wednesday, 22 September 2021.
The earthquake epicentre has been confirmed as north of Rawson, Victoria
https://www.ga.gov.au/news-events/news/latest-news/recent-earthquake-in-victoria
Will still get them out gippy way and low on the scale.
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u/cambries Feb 27 '23
I was working in a lab when this happened and we all thought it was related to the tram works on High St. Our instruments all shut off and restarted. Then when the shakes continued going Our 2 Kiwi staff members hid under the benches until it was safe. My partner texted me saying he managed to save all our glass cabinets and the television but sadly one of my expensive statues broke.
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
Our 2 Kiwi staff members hid under the benches
what can I say about our distant cousins over the road, they knew what it was all about.
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u/redditusername374 Feb 27 '23
Was the one expensive statue that broke god awful? I think your partner smelled an opportunity.
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u/tanoshiiki CBD Feb 27 '23
Yep, this was during lockdown. There would have been fair number of personal accounts of those in high-rises that could be found on Reddit. I didn't realise it was an earthquake until I got a text message from a friend a few minutes after it.
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
i live in a double story house, so not as bad as the high rise, I thonugh it was my nephew moving around the house at that time of the quake and only knew about the earthquake maybe 15/30 minutes later when the news media started to cover the story
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u/tanoshiiki CBD Feb 27 '23
I live in a mid high-rise in the CBD and I thought it was just upstairs going a bit too far with their renovations, as they had then been doing renovation works frequently. My partner was on basement level of Melbourne Central and didn't feel a thing. I was texting him and then trying to call him, in case anything had happened to him. When he finally responded, he was like what are you talking about?
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
I live in a mid high-rise in the CBD and I thought it was just upstairs going a bit too far with their renovations,
yep, we have been lucky down in melb that we havent had a "big" one and with a shake like the 2021 version we would have stuck the blame on others
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u/MyMemesAreTerrible Feb 27 '23
I was doing an exam for uni at the time lol, felt like someone just tried lifted up the room and my dumbass was seriously going outside to tell whoever was outside that I’m doing a test.
Then I remembered that my parents/ siblings are not strong enough to pick up a small freestanding house
Then everyone on the exam started asking about if there was an earthquake lmao.
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u/Proof_Contribution Feb 27 '23
What was weird about that one was all the people who said they were asleep when it happened. It was 9:15am.
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
i was still kinda in bed at that time, my bad hahahah....
was on the pc doing family tree researching till 4am and not really strange or weird as i knida remember it during 1 of the lockdowns periods so couldnt do much outside the 5km range
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u/nobondjokes Feb 27 '23
I was still in bed, but I was a jobless uni student at the time and we were in lockdown, so
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u/ohleprocy Feb 27 '23
Aren't they too deep? Like kilometers underground?
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u/Gore01976 Feb 27 '23
Aren't they too deep? Like kilometers underground?
any shake that can be measured is still called an earthquake. most of the reports I have heard about have been under 3 on the scale and the epicentre can be out in mid Sydney.
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u/tempo1139 Feb 27 '23
check out this EXCELLENT channel... we have BIG problems in our future becasue we don't take them seriously enough.
Did you know Merri Creek is fricken Fault line.... runs right up Sydney rd. and has visible folding in parts of the cliffs
Then there is the massive GOvernor fault in Eastern Vic, which is VERY likely to be triggered in a big way when the Alipne fault in New Zealand goes...
Reports also say the fact we suffered damage from the Masnfield quake shows how woefully unprepared we are, as we shoudl have seen ZERO damage. Hell.. finding ANY earthquake info is hard without turning to mining reports and associated geology
then there is the entire South West of Victoria which is just a volcanic complex. People live next to dormant (but not extinct) volcanoes and cinder cones and have zero clue... telling someone in Camperdown, they had a total shock even though it towered right next to their property
check out this vid.. and the entire channel https://youtu.be/D1-xWH7K9rY
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u/shrikelet Feb 27 '23
You must have found a real numpty in Camperdown if they don't know all the geological features around them are volcanic in origin. The volcanos in the western district are well known amongst most locals.
Either way, the volcanos get younger as you head west. Geologists reckon the hotspot is somewhere to the west of Mt Gambier now. Probably off the coast of Beachport.
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Feb 27 '23
[deleted]
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u/Tommi_Af Feb 27 '23
We're on the same plate as western NZ and stresses can propagate a long way through plates.
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Feb 27 '23
[deleted]
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u/tempo1139 Feb 27 '23
nobody said it was the only fault to be triggered.. it's just the only one I mentioned... or you could just check the link I supplied, for the exact reason of giving more information and context. I wasn't writing a thesis you know
I assume if you understand we are on the same plate... and one part has a significant event... it's pretty obvious it will increase the likelihood on other parts of the plate... especially when pressures in NZ are the probably cause of the the recent quake in Vic
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u/Mr_Gobbles Feb 27 '23
Yep, the Newcastle one was only a 5.6 I believe but was devastating. Considering the quality of a lot of new builds these days, I would not want to be in Newcastle the next time.
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u/jngjng88 Feb 27 '23
More importantly, is it avalanche safe & is it erupting volcano proof???
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u/buttholesurfer-69 Feb 27 '23
Fear of volcanic eruption at least has some grounding in science: volcanoes have been erupting in Victoria every few thousand years for the last 7 million years. Last one was 5,000 years ago (just over the border in Mt Gambier) so we're overdue for another.
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u/jngjng88 Feb 27 '23
Dammit why'd you have pull apart my shitpost like that 😭
;)
But that's actually interesting thanks, I had no idea
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u/tanoshiiki CBD Feb 27 '23 edited Feb 27 '23
I would be most worried about safe fire escape especially with flammable cladding being rife.
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u/oldirtybadzy Feb 27 '23
As a commercial carpenter nearly EVERYTHING is changing to be built to seismic standards now. It’s only been this way for the last twelve months. Before hand seismic considerations were largely ignored.
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u/salad_sanga Feb 28 '23
so theyre onto something!
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u/oldirtybadzy Feb 28 '23
Yeah it was apart of code, a part that was widely ignored up until the earthquake in 2021. Not building to code is a violation.
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u/Amazing_Boot4165 Feb 27 '23
OP did you not survive the terror of the great earthquake of '21?
I tell you the house was shaking like a leaf in a storm.
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u/SolutionDependent156 Feb 27 '23
As a geotechnical engineer, I have found the conference papers section on the Australian Earthquake Engineering Society’s website a great place to “do my own research” when brushing up on seismic design. 😉
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u/Nick0h Feb 27 '23
All I know is; I was 3 stories up an old building in 21’ when the Mansfield struck and roof tiles were coming down around me and that shit was whack haha. Letter still a bit cray but not like cray enough for everyone’s ott harassment here 😂
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u/rowdyfreebooter Feb 27 '23
So does chicken little live in your building or are they just doing letter box dropping every building in your area??
Most probably a building surveyor trying to drum up business
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u/Osariik Always Late For Public Transport Feb 27 '23
To be pedantic, there actually are a handful of significant faults around Victoria, including the Selwyn fault in Melbourne's east. The Selwyn fault is capable of producing earthquakes of around the same size as what happened in Turkey every few thousand years. While it is unlikely that this will happen during our lifetimes, it's not completely out of the question and while this person is overreacting a little bit, it doesn't hurt to understand a little bit of the best habits for surviving earthquakes (keep bottled water somewhere in the residence, during an earthquake shelter under a table, etc.) just in case it does actually happen.
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u/ApplesArePeopleToo Feb 27 '23
You laugh, but there was that earthquake in Moe just 10 years ago, and some lady there said in the news it felt like her top load washing machine had got unbalanced! That's pretty serious. Unbalanced washing machines can cause a lot of damage.
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u/tokyobandit Feb 27 '23
You’d have to print and cut and deliver however many apartments worth, but you could write back:
Sxxxx Apartment Earthquake!!
This building was constructed in 2010* and followed strict building code regulations as part of the Australian Standard, particularly AS 1170.4 Also known as the Earthquake resistance guidelines.
Despite not laying across any tectonic plate boundaries, Australia experiences the following:
- Earthquakes of magnitude 3 or more ─ around 100 earthquakes each year.
– Earthquakes of magnitude 5.0 – 6.0 occur on average every 1-2 years
– Earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 or more occur about every ten years
These figures are the latest from the Federal Government Department of Geoscience Australia.
We are safe, we are in a modern building which followed strict, regulated construction guidelines.
Earthquakes are a scary idea and seeing the destruction in Turkey was distressing. You can donate excess wealth to The Red Cross Turkey Earthquake Fund here: [link]
*I think I know which apartments you’re in and it was either 2009 or 2010, the last time the earthquake regulations were touched was in 2007.
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u/heisdeadjim_au Feb 27 '23
Australia does get earthquakes, to an extent.
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u/snave_ Feb 27 '23 edited Feb 27 '23
And intraplate ones can be particularly dangerous. WA has had some nasty examples such as the 1968 Meckering earthquake along the southwest seismic zone where insufficient structural integrity left rural towns to collapse like a stack of cards. I simply don't know enough about building standards to say any more, but I know there were still concerns a couple of decades ago. And risk is a function of liklihood and consequence.
Of course, this letter lacks uhm... sufficient nuance.
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u/matthew_anthony Feb 27 '23
For nuance...the building was built in 2010 I believe and is only 8 stories. So it's not like it's a ticking timebomb
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u/ScientistSuitable600 Feb 27 '23
Kinda funny because a town nearby suffers 2-3 per day.....
It's just that they're, on average, about 2.5 on the Richter scale, and maybe a handful per year are above 4.
Turns out living right in the middle of a plate also causes quakes, just very tiny ones.
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u/rockyrho Feb 27 '23
I am actually a seismic engineer by career, and while my specialty is not in structural engineering I do get asked this question a bit by curious people.
The honest answer is that it is super unlikely for melbourne to get an earthquake the size of those in Japan and Syria, as Australia is not on a fault line.
We can (and do!) get earthquakes, but the most likely occurrence we'll experience is one where the insurance bill racks up because a lot of crap falls over.
A lot of buildings actually have a bit of seismic considered in their structure
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u/Horti_boi Feb 27 '23
That’s not entirely correct. Australia experiences regular earthquakes, just not of the magnitude that causes catastrophic damage.
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u/vendilion Richmond Feb 27 '23
Who knows, the September 2021 Mansfield earthquake that I'm sure we all remember was a 5.9 and that made a lot of high rises sway back and forth apparently. You wonder if we might ever cop a once in a generation "freak" (by our standards) 6.5 or 7ish quake that actually knocks some less sturdy buildings over. Feels like purely speculative anxiety for the sake of it though.
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u/tobeornottobe_101 Feb 27 '23
Don’t forget there was one just last year 🙃
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u/LightDownTheWell Feb 27 '23
Year before, but yes.
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u/Space__2805 Feb 27 '23
holy shit I didn’t even realise it was a year and a bit ago jesus time flies
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u/Slayers_Picks Feb 27 '23
Rarely?
I live in Wollert, right next to two active mines and quarries, every week the house wobbles from the shockwaves.
Not earthquakes, but still causes cracks in the walls sometimes.
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u/yor_ur Feb 27 '23
Fun fact: volcanologists around the world have been suggesting that Melbourne have a proper plan for a volcanic eruption because from Melbourne to Mt gambier is a giant dormant volcano
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u/its_not_you_maybe Feb 27 '23
Are you stupid? We had a 5.9 about a year ago.
So IF, and IF is a hypothetical normality based on probability, IF there is an earthquake in Melbourne higher than 7 would our basic human need, shelter, withstand this.
It’s a question we must ask.
The alternative is sitting on the 5th floor if a 20 story hotel, apartment or office block and preying to blind faith the other 15 floors don’t crush you into the afterlife.
Shouldn’t there be some scientific assurance?
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u/flukus Feb 27 '23
Just what the country needs right now, even more expensive housing for an unlikely event.
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u/DickieGreenleaf84 Feb 27 '23
If they did what they are saying they wouldn't be so worried as to have put this note everywhere.
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u/ArtisansCritic Feb 27 '23
I don’t think the pitch on my roof is designed to support 12 inches of snowfall. Should I sue my builder? Or Dan Andrews for allowing the building code to not take this into consideration? (Obvious /s Just in case)
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u/Opening_Anteater456 Feb 27 '23
I have 2 questions:
Can engineers easily calculate older buildings earthquake readiness? I’d imagine you’d have to review plans and do testing to really determine how safe a lot of buildings are
Given the demand for truth is someone going around lying about it?
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u/Crashthewagon Feb 27 '23
They can, and do. Unreinforced masonry is basically "LOL, die". Wood frame, you're pretty much gonna be fine at a single story. Might get some tiles coming through the ceiling though.
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u/SolutionDependent156 Feb 27 '23
Yes! - https://aees.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/63-Hing-Ho-Tsang.pdf
“The Risk of Being Killed by Earthquakes in Melbourne: A Preliminary Study” Australian Earthquake Engineering Society 2018 Conference
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u/Crashthewagon Feb 27 '23
Ask this person what the Richter Scale measures, and how. ( Hint, energy release at the point, and it's logarithmic, not linear )
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u/snave_ Feb 27 '23
This would actually be a fantastic softball topic for the ABC to report on. Contact local Earth Sciences and Civil Engineering faculty, Geoscience Australia and regulatory and standards bodies. I reckon most of them would love the opportunity to educate the public on "the truth", although it may not be as... dramatic as this note would suggest.
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u/Angie-P Feb 27 '23
We had an earthquake… all I can remember an old building lost a wall in chapel st.
We really are a brain broken, doom scrolling society now
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u/Lamont-Cranston Feb 27 '23
There was a modest earthquake a few years ago and a building on Chapel St did have a wall collapse
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u/clumsy__jedi Feb 27 '23
Did they forget we all survived an earthquake in melbourne less than two years ago?
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u/Visible-Row-7529 Feb 27 '23
Ah but you see, you believe in science. Why look to sound scientific background behind earthquakes when you can look to a book written by people high on godism. It’s clear we’re living in the end of days….. to this idiot anyway
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u/bittersweet311 Feb 28 '23
There are a billion ways to die, an earthquake is merely one of them. Chuck this paper in the bin and go about your day, focusing on gratitude for the health and safety that you do have 😊
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u/CapnBloodbeard Feb 28 '23
Probably be a conspiracy nutter behind this. Basically all geological and weather events are all due to weapons controlled by the worldwide cabal or some nonsense
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u/Thick-Act-3837 Feb 28 '23
also our building standards.... compared to Turkey/Syria. probably a little bit different.
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u/jorgerine Feb 28 '23
Yes, we do get earthquakes. They are rarely major. Yes, they have caused damage and death in the past e.g. the Newcastle earthquake. Are we subject to anything like what happened in Turkiye and Syria? Highly unlikely. Do we want our dwellings built according to code? Absolutely.
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u/Corberus Feb 27 '23
Richter scale has nothing to do with the amount of damage caused to a building for that you use the modified mercali scale (MMS)