Not very often you hear about an Earthquake in Australia and when you do they are usually quite small, and so was this one ( it seems) because i cant find any data on how big it actually was, but it did make the news. I thought it was worth mentioning as it may have come off the back of the 9.0 quake in Japan.
Geoscience Australia seismologist Jonathan Bathgate told The Courier-Mail the quake was very shallow and struck off the north Queensland coast just after 4pm (AEST). He said there was no risk of a tsunami or above average tides as a result of the quake. He said it was roughly 30km offshore from Innisfail, 70km southeast of Cairns and 50km from Gordonvale.
The earthquake lasted about four or five seconds, sounded like distant thunder, and had very slight tremors, according to a caller from Russell Heads.
Innisfail experienced magnitude four quakes in 1989, 1990 and 1974.
No damage was reported in the northern region as a result of the quake.
An Innisfail police spokesman said the quake wasn’t felt in the town itself.
Australia’s most powerful known onshore earthquake was a 7.2 magnitude in Meeberrie, Western Australia in 1941.