Earthquake shakes buildings in northern Australian city; no damage reported
(AP)
Updated: 2005-11-21 14:58

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.3 shook houses in the northern Australian port city of Darwin Monday but there were no reports of any damage or injuries.

The earthquake hit at 9:51 a.m. (0021 GMT) beneath the Banda Sea about 500 kilometers (310 miles) northwest of Darwin, said Cvetan Sinadinovski of Geoscience Australia, the government's geological organization.

"People would have felt this earthquake up to 500 kilometers away from the epicenter, and we have heard numerous reports of residents in the Darwin area having felt the effects of this event," he said.

Sinadinovski said the quake did not generate a tsunami.

Most of Darwin was destroyed and 65 people died when a category four cyclone hammered the city on Christmas Eve in 1974.