NT Earthquake: Timor Leste tremor felt across Top End

Parap man said rattling empty tinnies first sign of a 7.3 magnitude earthquake hitting the Territory. “I thought ‘Jeez I haven’t had that much to drink”

UPDATE THURS 6PM: A 7.3 MAGNITUDE tremor shook thousands of Territorians awake in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Parap resident Anthony McNaught was finishing up his last drinks following festivities for his sister’s 20th birthday at 4am when the empty cans of Bundaberg Rum started rattling.

“Everything was jittering around … the walls were moving like jelly,” Mr McNaught said.

“And I thought ‘Jeez I haven’t had that much to drink’.

“When it started thumping I thought ‘What’s going on upstairs?’.

“It sounded like they took that Hulk medicine that turns them into a big green thing.

Local Tradie, Anthony McNaughtwas a bit worried when his Bundy cans started rattling during the 7.3 level earthquake. Picture: Glenn Campbell

“Then the ground was moving under my feet.”

Mr McNaught said the quake arrived with an ominous rumbling noise, like the sound of a jet engine or a train in the distance.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hadi Ghasemi said more than 2300 Territorians were shaken awake by the tremors that hit at 4am and lasted up to 90 seconds.

Dr Ghasemi said the 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck 170km beneath the earth in the Banda Sea off Timor Leste, about 400km away from Darwin.

Residents as far south as Katherine in the NT, 320km away from Darwin, and as far west as Kununurra, just across the West Australian border, have reported feeling the tremor.

And it wasn’t just people who felt the quake, with Arliss Ryan saying Koda, the 13-year-old Maltese poodle she was pet-sitting, predicted the coming tremor at Jingili.

Americans Arliss Ryan and Eric Sponberg on their around-the-world sailing trip stopped in Darwin when it was shaken by an earthquake on Thursday December 30, 2021. Picture: Contributed

Ms Ryan said the older dog was being let out to pee when the pooch started “zigzagging” across the lawn before bolting away.

Seconds later the earth started shaking.

The American, who is midway through her around-the-world sailing trip, said it was one of the most unique experiences of her trip.

NT Emergency Services said there were no reports of urgent damage, while Territory Insurance Office said there were already six earthquake-related claims for cracked ceilings and cornices.

No #tsunami threat to Australia from magnitude 7.5 #earthquake near Banda Sea. Latest advice at https://t.co/Tynv3Zygqi. pic.twitter.com/AI56EoELMM

— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 29, 2021

Dr Ghasemi said he was not surprised about the lack of damage as the quake was quite deep underground and offshore so Territorians were more excited than terrified.

He warned Territorians to expect aftershocks in the coming days and weeks.

EARLIER THURS 4AM: TERRITORIANS were shaken awake by an earthquake in the early hours of this morning.

Geoscience Australia has reported a magnitude 7.3 quake was recorded in the Banda Sea, off Timor Leste at 4am local Darwin time.

Initial findings said the large undersea earthquake struck at a depth of 169km, about 400km away from Darwin.

There is no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands and territories.

Almost 2000 people have officially recorded feeling the quake, with hundreds more turning to social media to report on the tremor.

NT Emergency Services had no reports of damage.

No #tsunami threat to Australia from magnitude 7.5 #earthquake near Banda Sea. Latest advice at https://t.co/Tynv3Zygqi. pic.twitter.com/AI56EoELMM

— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 29, 2021

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Hadi Ghasemi told the ABC it was unlikely the quake would cause any major damage in the Top End.

“Our modelling and also the first report that we have received (show) it will produce a moderate ground tremor and ground shaking, which don’t expect (to cause) any major damage to buildings and structures,” he said.

Dr Ghasemi said there will likely be more aftershocks in the coming days and weeks.

“As a rule of thumb, the largest aftershock will be one magnitude unit lower than the main shock,” he said.

“And generally the larger aftershocks are expected to happen at the earliest stages of the earthquake.”

GeoScience Australia’s ShakeMap shows residents across the Top End and the Kimberleys felt weak to light shakes from the earthquake. Picture: Supplied.

Dr Ghasemi said he had not seen any reports of any major impacts in Indonesia and Timor, which are in proximity to the epicentre of the quake.

Darwin-based meteorologist Karl Lijnders said the long duration of the shaking and the accompanying noise was unusual for the Top End.

“It just kept going and going and going, the swaying and the rocking and rolling,” he said, speaking to ABC Darwin.

“That duration was really quite unusual for this part of the world.

Darwin-based meteorologist Karl Lijnders.

“This morning’s one got me surprised by how long it went for and the noise accompanying with it. It was really a churning sort of humming noise that was associated with the quake.

Mr Lijnders said he felt the tremors for “about a minute to 90 seconds”, but that time would have varied depending on location.

“We had the shaking constantly, but there were a couple of waves that passed through within that 90-second shaking episode,” he said.

“I saw the fans swaying from side to side, oscillating back towards shaking, I lost a picture off one of my walls this morning, it smashed onto the ground. I didn’t need it anyway.”

Residents as far south as Katherine in the NT, 320km away from Darwin, and as far west as Kununurra, just across the West Australian border, have reported feeling the tremor.

“Quite powerful, gave elevated house a good shaking in Palmerston,” wrote one user on the NT News Facebook page.

Another resident in the Darwin suburb of Parap said the floor shuffled between their feet.

“Heard a weird ticking noise – that was a pair of empty Bundy cans tapping together. As I stood up to find out why a deep rumble started, then the floor began to shuffle beneath my feet and the walls looked to be swaying. This continued for 20-30 seconds but the deep rumble noise continued for another minute or two,” the user said.

Chief Minister Michael Gunner exclaimed “bloody oath” when asked if he felt the quake this morning, but admitted he stayed in stayed in bed as his wife checked on their young son.

Mr Gunner said it was the largest tremor he had felt in the Top End.

“I feel for anyone who’s living in an upstairs unit,” Mr Gunner said.

“If you’re up a fair a few storeys, I’m sure that they would feel that quite dramatically.”

Originally published as NT Earthquake: Timor Leste tremor felt across Top End