Nature
of strong quakes changing? 7.1 magnitude earthquake strikes region of
Banda Sea
A
magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the Banda Sea off Indonesia has been felt
more than 600 kilometres away in Darwin. Geoscience Australia says
there could be more aftershocks from the quake that shook the Top End
of the Northern Territory overnight.
A
shipping container was shaken off its stands at Nguiu on the Tiwi
Islands, about 100 kilometres north of Darwin. (Credit: Audience
submitted)
11
December, 2012
A
magnitude 7.3 earthquake in the Banda Sea off Indonesia has been felt
more than 600 kilometres away in Darwin.
Geoscience
Australia says there could be more aftershocks from the quake that
shook the Top End of the Northern Territory overnight.
Tremors
were felt in Darwin and Katherine at about 2.30am local time.
Overnight
staff at the Darwin weather bureau evacuated their third-storey
office while the building shook.
Duty
forecaster Angeline Prasad says the tremor was the strongest she has
felt.
"The
building started shaking and it just became worse," she said.
"It
is the worst tremor I've felt in Darwin.
"When
things started falling off shelves we decided to go to an evacuation
point, which is outside the building."
Geoscience
senior seismologist Dr Mark Leonard says, while there have been
quakes of a similar magnitude felt in Darwin before, people are
describing last night's tremor as particularly intense.
"We
have had a few reports from people saying they think it is the
strongest, even though we know if you go back 20, 30 years there have
been a number of earthquakes this size," he said.
"But
there might have been some sort of focusing of the waves this time."
An
engineering specialist says the tremor is a pointer to why building
standards should be reviewed in northern Australia.
Professor
Kevin McKew from Central Queensland University says it is a warning
that a large, damaging earthquake could strike at any time.
"The
big one is yet to come," he said.
"We
haven't had a great earthquake, as I would call it, but we've had
plenty of warning calls.
"I
think it will happen, it's just a matter of when will it happen.
"We
know it is probably a once in 300 or 400 year earthquake but we have
no indication to say when it's about to happen.
"But
we just have to plan for it."
One
Darwin resident says she was sleeping when her bed started moving.
"The
bed was really shaking violently, all my sliding doors rattling and
windows were rattling, and the wardrobe was sliding violently and
rattling," she said.
"It
just seemed to go on and on and on, and then when it died down, it
even had another violent shudder again.
"It
certainly got the adrenaline running."
Residents
further south in Katherine, 200 kilometres south of Darwin, also felt
tremors.
Indonesian
geophysics officials also said they had not received any reports of
damage.
The
quake was felt only weakly in the districts of North Halamahera and
Morotai which were closest to the epicentre, Indonesia's National
Disaster Mitigation Agency said in an update.
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