By Matthew Roscoe • Published: 30 Dec 2021 • 9:22
No tsunami warning despite massive 7.3 magnitude earthquake rocking Darwin, Australia. Credit: Photo by Алексей Мойса on Unsplash
A MASSIVE 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck the Barat Daya islands in Indonesia, rocking Darwin, Australia but despite this, no tsunami warning has been issued.
Geoscience said more than 1,700 Northern Territory residents reported feeling the shudder from the earthquake early on Thursday, December 30.
The epicentre was about 250km northeast of Dili and 50km east of Indonesia’s Maluku islands in the Banda Sea but many residents in Darwin said they felt the “long and strong” quake with the ground shaking for “five to six minutes”.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the earthquake hit north of Timor Leste around 3.25 am local time and hit at a depth of 166km.
Darwin chief minister, Michael Gunner, said he was shaken awake.
“Bloody oath,” he told reporters when asked if he had felt the tremors.
“It went for a very long time. It’s the largest one I can remember and I’ve felt a fair few shakes here in Darwin.
“I feel for anybody in an upstairs unit, if you were up a few floors you would have felt that quite dramatically.”
“It was a long earthquake and quite strong, too, but for some reason, not many people in our building fled to the lobby. Too lazy for stairs, maybe,” one person said on Twitter.
Australian Olympic hockey champ Nova Peris said she felt the ground shake.
“That was a big one!” she tweeted.
There is no threat of a tsunami to the Australian mainland or islands, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
In related news, the Greek island of Crete was shaken by a strong 5.7 magnitude earthquake on Wednesday, December 29. The quake could be felt strongly as far away as Chania in the far west of the island and Egyptian authorities reported that the quake was felt in some of the country’s cities.
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Originally from the UK, Matthew is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.
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