Timor Leste and Tennant Creek quakes shake the Territory

Did the earth move for you? Two quakes rock the Top End and Tennant.

DUAL earthquakes off the coast of Timor-Leste and near Tennant Creek have sent shockwaves through the Territory, with tremors felt from Darwin to the Red Centre.

Geoscience Australia has confirmed a 6.4 magnitude quake off Timor Leste’s south-eastern coast in the Banda Sea sent tremors through the Top End as far west as Kununurra.

No property damage or injuries have been reported from the off-shore quake which is believed to have struck at a depth of about 30km.

The Bureau of Meteorology has confirmed there was no tsunami threat to Australia from the Timor quake.

Geoscience Australia has confirmed a 6.4 magnitude quake off Timor Leste’s south-eastern coast in the Banda Sea sent tremors through the Top End as far west as Kununurra.

Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Trevor Allen said the agency had taken about 520 ‘felt’ calls from people in the Top End who experienced the quake.

Darwin residents reported feeling the tremors for at least 30 seconds.

No #tsunami threat to Australia from #earthquake felt in Darwin, NT (magnitude 6.4 near Timor Region). See https://t.co/Tynv3Zygqi. pic.twitter.com/PBboAKOgx4

— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) May 27, 2022

Social media is awash with comments from people across the Territory who felt the tremor.

Valerie Wilkie said she felt it in Howard Springs while Janelle Edwards-Maddalozza also experienced the tremor in Humpty Doo.

“Yep my whole building was shaking in the city!,” Jake Musarra said.

“It was massive,” Renee Simpson wrote on Facebook.

Bettina Anne said: “Probably the biggest one I’ve felt. It feels even crazier when you’re high off the ground!”

We’ve detected an #earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 at 11.36am local time (12:06pm Darwin time) in the Timor Region. Did you feel it? Complete a felt report at https://t.co/c9M3aKxQQipic.twitter.com/yZD98CMsG1

— Geoscience Australia (@GeoscienceAus) May 27, 2022

People also reported feeling it in Virginia, Nighcliff, Palmerston, Stuart Park and Darwin International Airport.

Mr Allen said the Tennant Creek tremor was an aftershock from three significant earthquakes that struck near the town in 1988.

He said the three quakes within 12 hours on January 22 1988 measured magnitude 6.2, 6.3 and 6.5.

“Since that time we’re still recording earthquakes in that area,” Mr Allen said. “We still record small earthquakes from the 1988 after-shock sequences in Tennant Creek roughly every two weeks or so.

“It’s an interesting phenomena we observe in places like Australia. After-shock sequences can be very long lived through larger earthquakes we’ve seen.”

The shallow earthquake came from just 5km below the surface south of Tennant Creek.

This is not the first time a Timor tremor has reached the Top End.

In December a 7.3 magnatude earthquake shook thousands of Territorians awake in the early hours of the morning.

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.