Undersea quake rattles Darwin
Posted by JAC on 2/16/2010, 1:08 pm
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010stbl.php  The epicentre of the 6.1 magnitude quake was 600 kilometres north-west of Darwin. By Jano Gibson Updated Tue Feb 16, 2010 1:26pm AEDT A 6.1 magnitude earthquake in the Banda Sea rattled Darwin this morning, with residents reporting walls shaking and floors shuddering. Geoscience Australia said the epicentre of the quake was 600 kilometres north-west of Darwin. It occurred 100 kilometres beneath the sea at 7.21am [CST]. "Earthquakes of this size ordinarily wouldn't be felt as far away as 600 kilometres but because of the depth there seems to be some sort of unique channel that makes them being felt in Darwin," Dr Jonathan Bathgate said. "It probably would have woken a few people up with some minor shaking." He said the size of the quake was not uncommon in the region and it was unlikely to have caused any significant damage. "We've certainly recorded these events numerous times in the last half a dozen years," he said. "And even earthquakes bigger than this - up to a magnitude 7 - and they haven't caused any damage in the past. "We are not expecting this one to be any different to that." A woman who lives on the 12th floor of a high-rise apartment in the Darwin CBD said she felt the tremor. "I was actually in the kitchen preparing a curry for dinner and the whole floor shook," the woman told 105.7 ABC Darwin. "And I have a cat here who rules the house and he came running out looking very scared with his tail in the air wondering what was going on. "The building was moving. "It went to the side about three or four times." She added: "I wouldn't like to be up here if there was a really good one." Another Darwin resident, Alison, said she was sitting at her desk when the tremor hit. "I thought someone was walking on the roof because all the panels started to creak. "Then I realised it was a tremor. "I've got a water bottle on the desk and the water was moving fairly rapidly but it didn't last very long."  http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/dyfi/events/us/2010stbl/us/index.html |
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