WELLINGTON, New Zealand—Hundreds of people in Australia and Indonesia reported feeling a powerful deep-sea earthquake early Tuesday, although the magnitude 7.6 temblor did not prompt an alert from the U.S. Tsunami Warning System.
The United States Geological Survey said the quake’s epicenter was at a depth of 95 kilometers (59 miles) in the ocean near Indonesia and not far from Australia’s northern tip.
Generally, deeper quakes don’t cause as much damage as those that are shallow.
More than 1,000 people in northern Australia, including in the city of Darwin, reported feeling the quake to the Geoscience Australia agency. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre said the quake didn’t pose a tsunami threat to the mainland or any islands or territories.
Australian singer Vassy wrote on Twitter it was the longest quake she had felt.
“We ran out of the house in the middle of the night I’ve never experienced earthquake that lasted that long and felt so strong. It was rather scary,” Vassy wrote. “Woke us up in the middle of the night.”
The region sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” the arc of seismic faults around the Pacific Ocean where earthquakes and volcanoes are common.
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