Tremor across Cairns after small quake

15 Mar 2011, 8:25 pm   -   Source: AAP
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Residents in far north Queensland have felt a tremor from a small offshore earthquake, centred about 70km southeast of Cairns.

A small offshore earthquake has rattled far north Queensland, sending a tremor through Cairns and surrounding areas.

Geoscience Australia confirmed a magnitude 4.0 earthquake took place about 30km off Innisfail, south of Cairns, at 4.08pm (AEST) on Tuesday.

Residents to the north and south of Cairns reported feeling a tremor, but no damage was reported.

Cairns resident Kathy Brown said the sensation experienced by those in her office at Smithfield, north of the city, was similar to that caused by a passing heavy vehicle.

"I was just sitting here and I felt it through the floor and then my computer started to shake," Ms Brown told AAP.

She said she was shocked to discover the shaking was the result of an earthquake.

"A couple of people who'd been through one before said: `That was an earthquake'. But, I said: `We don't get earthquakes in Cairns'.

"I wish it had been a passing truck. We're used to cyclones but we don't need any earthquakes."

Geoscience Australia said residents at Gordonvale, south of the city, had reported mirrors and other items shaking, and said the tremors had been felt at Innisfail.

But, it said, the quake was too small to generate a tsunami, to the relief of locals in the region battered by Cyclone Yasi last month.

The Cairns Post reported fish were seen jumping out of the water as the earthquake hit.

Russell Heads resident Keith Fisher told the paper the quake lasted about four seconds.

"It sounded like distant thunder. There was a distant rumbling," Mr Fisher said.

"I haven't heard anything like it before. It was very slight."

Geoscience Australia duty seismologist Steve Tatham said that although earthquakes in Queensland were uncommon, three small events had been reported offshore in the Innisfail/Ingham area in the past decade.

"Queensland is generally pretty seismically quiet but this is not completely unheard of," he told AAP.

Mr Tatham said intra-plate earthquakes happened across Australia fairly regularly but were usually very small.

He said there was no evidence to link the seismic activity to recent earthquakes in Japan and Christchurch, although some have theorised that large earthquakes could cause seismic instability elsewhere.

"There is an idea that that could be the case but we don't have any evidence to support it unequivocally."

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