This is the startling moment a freak earthquake sent Australia’s north-east into convulsions and left shocked residents ‘scared’ and confused amid the rare seismic activity.
Geosciences Australia said it detected the earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 shortly after 9.30pm, with the North Queensland city of Townsville seemingly the hardest hit.
Thousands of Queenslander reported experiencing the quake across a massive stretch of the country’s northern coastline, with tremors felt from the harbour city of Mackay to tropical Cairns more than 600km away.
At least 4,000 homes lost power as the seismic waves rippled across the state but, fortunately, no significant damage or injuries were reported.
Nevertheless, the unusual earthquake, which struck at a depth of 10km, left many residents feeling uneasy.
‘Such a strange feeling to suddenly have this weird force racing beneath you, making your home shudder, and then some kind of explosion,’ one wrote online.
‘We went outside, not sure what had happened and neighbours were out there too.’
‘A really weird feeling, the house and ground shaking. Loud sound around and above us,’ another said.
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.4 was reported shortly after 9.30pm in Townsville
British business executive Brenn Clinton said his daughter, who was holidaying in Townsville, was forced to evacuate her hotel amid the rumble.
‘My daughter’s just FaceTimed, she’s just been evacuated from her hotel due to an earthquake, in North Australia, [which has] never experienced at earthquake before,’ he said.
Footage shared of the shake showed several homes being rattled by the event.
In one clip, a young woman had just left her home when the earthquake hit.
Geoscience Australia senior seismologist Dr Phil Cummins told the ABC the epicentre was between 20km and 30km southwest of Townsville.
He also addressed the ‘explosion’ noises those close to the epicentre reported.
‘If you’re very close to the earthquake, the seismic waves are very impulsive, they arrive very quickly, altogether in one big burst and there’s a lot of high frequency energy,’ Dr Cummins said.
‘Once the waves propagate a certain distance, they tend to get more spread out and have lower frequencies, there’s more of a rolling, maybe rumbling motion.’
The town’s disaster management centre – which has already faced flooding and a cyclone this year – worked until midnight but did not declare an emergency.
A young woman is seen leaving her home shortly before the earthquake
Townsville City Council acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said the disaster management centre worked until midnight but did not go into emergency management.
‘For me and I’m sure everyone else in the community, it took everyone by surprise,’ Townsville City Council acting mayor Ann-Maree Greaney said.
‘Certainly not what we were expecting on a Saturday night, following a massive rain event two weeks ago.’
Those in need of assistance were instructed to contact their local authorities.
