An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.4 struck off the coast of Timor-Leste and was so strong it was felt in Darwin, Australia.
The quake hit at 11.36am local time (12.06pm Darwin time), according to Geosciences Australia, and prompted some people in the capital of Dili to flee buildings, though a tsunami was ruled out.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, but witnesses said the quake was felt strongly. A video shared on social media showed people exiting a shopping mall in Dili by stairs.
“It’s quite big,” Francez Suni, director of information of East Timor’s GMN TV, told Reuters in a text message.
“Our staff ran out of the building because it was shaking.”
The quake occurred at a depth of 10km and struck about 29km east-south-east of Lospalos in Timor-Leste, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre said.
The Bureau of Meteorology advised there was no tsunami threat to Australia.
The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency said the quake did not trigger a tsunami threat warning.
The earthquake was also felt by residents in Darwin, more than 700km away, according to Australian media reports and residents’ posts on social media.
“I was in my office in Darwin three stories up and monitors shook and door frames creaked,” Ben Tuffnell said.
“You could feel the whole building shake. All the staff came out of their offices saying it was one of the stronger tremors in recent years.
“It lasted for a good 30 seconds.”
“Wow I just felt the earth move here in Darwin! An earthquake just shook our Office building here in Casuarina! Anyone else feel it?” William Daw said on Facebook.
“Decent earth tremor in Darwin just then,” Mel Court reported via social media soon after.
“That felt weird. Nice little tremor there, Darwin,” Ruth Davies said on Twitter.
East Timor and neighbouring Indonesia straddle the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismically active zone where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
