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More strong earthquakes off WA coast

AAPWestern Suburbs Weekly

MORE strong earthquakes have struck off the Western Australian coast.

Geoscience Australia says undersea quakes with a magnitude of 5.1 and 5.5 were recorded off the coast between Port Hedland and Broome on Monday morning.

They follow 6.6 magnitude quake which struck in the same area on Sunday afternoon.

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That was the equal-biggest earthquake ever recorded in Australia and was felt from Perth to Darwin.

It equalled the magnitude of an earthquake in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in 1988.

Monday’s aftershocks were recorded at a depth of 10 kilometres and the Bureau of Meteorology said there was no risk of a tsunami along the Australian coast.

The United States Geological Survey reported Sunday’s quake hit at a depth of 33km, about 203km offshore, and of a 6.9 magnitude.

The quake jolted items off shelves in the region’s shops.

Derby resident Jody Gaunt was having a beer with friends when they felt the quake.

“We were sitting outside and our chairs were rocking,” she told AAP.

“The trees stopped moving and the breeze stopped blowing.

“We were thinking, ‘Is this real or not real?’ We’ve never had an earthquake up here, or a tremor.”

In Port Hedland, The Walkabout Hotel employee Shelley, who did not wish to use her surname, told AAP it felt like being on a vibrating machine.

“It felt like being on one of those vibrating machines. It just sort of shook the building,” she said.

There had been no building damage, a police spokesman said.

Aftershocks had been expected.