Monday’s earthquake struck 35 km southwest of Lockhart River. Image: Volcano Discovery.
A handful of Lockhart River residents reported their beds and doors shook when an earthquake struck near the town on Monday night.
One resident said he was watching TV with his wife when the bed started moving for about three to four seconds. He described it as light shaking.
“It was like someone rocked it [the bed] back and forward,” the resident reported on seismology website www.volcanodiscovery.com.
Another resident described it as very weak shaking.
“It felt [like] someone pushed me sideward.”
He confirmed his wife felt the tremor. He then phoned his brother who also felt the shaking.
Other residents from Lockhart River described “vertical swinging, rattling and vibrating”.
“I was lying in my bed and felt my body and the bed shake up and down then looked at the door also shaking,” one report said.
Another shocked resident said he didn’t realise what had just happened until his mother phoned to confirm it had been an earthquake.
Seismology experts in Australia and around the globe recorded the 3.7 magnitude earthquake 35 km southwest of Lockhart River at 8:31 pm on Monday 27 October.
According to Geoscience Australia (GeoAu), the earthquake hit at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 km).
A second report from the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) listed the quake at magnitude 3.8. A third agency, the citizen-seismograph network of RaspberryShake, also reported the quake at magnitude 3.8.
Based on the preliminary seismic data, it reported the quake should not have caused significant damage, but was probably felt by many in the area of the epicentre as light vibration.
Outside of Lockhart River, very weak shaking was reported from 107 km south of the epicentre in Coen.
Most reports on seismology sites came from Brisbane (10 reports) and amazingly 2463 km south of the epicentre in Sydney (two). All 12 of these reports described the shaking intensity as light.
No reports were received from Weipa (138 km from the epicentre), Aurukun (154 km), Bamaga (246 km), Pormpuraaw (265 km), Thursday Island (284 km), Kowanyama (312 km), Hope Vale (336 km) or Cooktown (360 km).
