Darwin homes shaken as 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes in Banda Sea off Timor coast

Residents in Darwin and some of Australia’s northernmost suburbs have been rocked overnight after a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck offshore.

The quake hit in the Banda Sea off the eastern coast of Timor-Leste at about 9.28pm on Friday.

Seismologists initially logged the earthquake as a magnitude of 6.1 at a depth of 102km, before revising it to 5.9 at a depth of 73km.

It followed a smaller 5.2 magnitude earthquake in the same area earlier on Friday.

Originally published as Darwin homes shaken as 5.9 magnitude earthquake strikes in Banda Sea off Timor coast