Major earthquake in Banda Sea shakes Darwin
03 March 2005
A large earthquake occurred late this evening in the Banda Sea, north of Darwin.
The earthquake of magnitude 7.1 on the Richter scale occurred at 09.42pm AEDST (10:42:05 UT) about 660 kilometres North of Darwin.
"The event occurred approximately 190 kilometres below the surface and is extremely unlikely to have caused a tsunami", said Geoscience Australia Seismologist Dr Spiro Spiliopoulos.
The earthquake was felt in Darwin and surrounding areas with reports of windows shaking for over a minute. At this stage there has been no recorded damage in the Darwin area.
"Banda Sea is located on a plate boundary, and consequently earthquakes are quite common in this area, Dr Spiliopoulos said. The last magnitude 7 earthquake in this particular area was in Dec, 1995".
Topic contact: media@ga.gov.au Last updated: May 31, 2012
