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Geoscience Australia rapporterede at det første jordskælv ramte 110 km øst for Fraser Island i en dybde af 10 kilometer.
To jordskælv så kraftige som en atombombe rystede lørdag eftermiddag Queensland, den største begivenhed i staten i næsten 100 år.

Et skælv af størrelsen 5.7 ramte tæt ved Fraser Island, omkring 200 kilometer nord for Brisbane, kort før 13:30 lokal tid i hvad der var den største sådan begivenhed i Queensland siden 1918.

Knap nok en time senere, ramte et andet jordskælv af størrelsen 5,2 i samme område, hvilket var efterfulgt af efterrystelser af en størrelse på omkring 3 [på Richterskalaen].

Geoscience Australia rapporterede at den første jordrystelse ramte 110 km øst for Fraser Island i en dybde af 10km, og eksperter sammenlignede jordskælvene med de mest ødelæggende i Australsk historie.

'Dette er sammenligneligt med jordskælvet som skete i 1989 i Newcastle, hvilket selvfølgelig er det mest ødelæggende i Australsk historie,' sagde senior seismolog Dan Jaksa til ABC.

Det er skønnet at impakten kunne have været bemærket af folk 340km væk.


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Mr Jaksa also said Saturday's quakes were likely caused by a 5.3 magnitude event that hit 100 kilometres off the coast of the Coral Sea on Thursday morning.

'This is simply the event of [three] days ago seems to have triggered another part of the fault to release its stress and it's certainly done that,' he told the ABC.

Mr Jaksa said Saturday's quake is estimated to have been up to 20 times stronger than that experienced on Thursday, with shockwaves reportedly hitting the Gold Coast in Brisbane, and reaching inland to Toowoomba - about 300 kilometres away.

A magnitude 5 earthquake is the equivalent of an atomic bomb, he said.

A number of residents said they were shaken by the quakes, and there were reports of buildings and homes swaying during the events.

'I was sitting here, listening to some tunes at my desk and was like 'Whoah! I've never had that before,' Brisbane local Jade McGuinness said, according to the Courier Mail.

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a tsunami warning.