Powerful 5.3-magnitude earthquake rocks Australian outback town

natural disaster

An Australian outback town has been hit by a 5.3-magnitude earthquake that has damaged several buildings.

Tenant Creek, a Northern Territory town of just 3,000 inhabitants, was struck by the earthquake on Thursday morning.

The quake’s epicentre was 40 kilometers south-west of the town, at a depth of 10 kilometres, Geoscience Australia said.

Local media said residents reported feeling the tremours.

“I have reports of minor damage like hairline cracks, which would not be uncommon from this size earthquake.

“We have nothing major reported … as of yet,” Geoscience Australia Senior Seismologist, Hugh Glanville, told Australian newswire AAP.

A 6.6-magnitude earthquake was the largest tremour ever recorded in Australia in the Tenant Creek region in 1988. (dpa/NAN)

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