Darwin shaken by earthquake off Indonesian coast

Parts of the Northern Territory have been rocked by an overnight earthquake that hit off the coast of Indonesia.

The magnitude 7.3 quake struck about 3.55am ACST on Thursday, according to Geoscience Australia.

The epicentre was about 250km northeast of Dili and 50km east of Indonesia’s Maluku islands in the Banda Sea.

Tremors were felt in Darwin for several minutes with many locals, including the chief minister, Michael Gunner, shaken awake.

“Bloody oath,” he told reporters when asked if he had felt the tremors.

“It went for a very long time. It’s the largest one I can remember and I’ve felt a fair few shakes here in Darwin.

“I feel for anybody in an upstairs unit, if you were up a few floors you would have felt that quite dramatically.”

“Earthquake just rocked Darwin but all appears okay and no damage,” Allan Anderson wrote on Facebook.

“Our building really moved. That was one hell of a way to wake up”.

“Darwin Earthquake! Holy Moly, that was a strong one!” Olympic gold medallist Nova Peris said on social media.

“Now that’s enough sleep for Darwin. What an earthquake. Long way away but the shaking lasted over 1 minute,” Karl Lijnders said.

There were no immediate reports of tsunami warnings, nor casualties or damage in Indonesia.

The offshore quake took place about 3.25 am local time and hit at a depth of 166km.

Indonesia experiences frequent quakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide, which stretches from Japan through south-east Asia and across the Pacific basin.