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Victoria is lucky to have escaped catastrophe as the earthquake that rocked the state on Wednesday was bigger than the deadly Newcastle quake which killed 13 people and injured 160 others.
Seismologist Dr Gary Gibson told Daily Mail Australia the 5.8 quake was not as deadly as the 5.6 shake in Newcastle in 1989 because it struck a long way from densely populated areas.
Dr Gibson said Victoria's earthquake was centred between Licola and the town of Woods Point, around 250km east of Chapel Street Melbourne - where the most significant damage happened.
He said ground buildings on Chapel Street could have caused loss of life had the popular cafe strip been busy.
Pictures have emerged of a Betty's Burgers restaurant partially collapsed on Chapel St in Melbourne's inner-city after a magnitude 5.8 earthquake on Wednesday
Rubble is pictured outside the Betty's Burgers on Chapel Street after the building was damaged by Wednesday's earthquake
The devastating 1989 Newcastle earthquake killed 13 people including nine in the Newcastle Workers' Club, which is pictured above
'The Newcastle quake was 12km deep, 20km from the city and the fault ran in the right direction to focus a
