A series of small aftershocks have struck 200 kilometres off the coast of Broome after a 6.6 magnitude earthquake rocked Western Australia on Sunday. Residents have been warned to expect more aftershocks in coming weeks following reports of people fleeing buildings in Broome on Sunday when the initial quake struck. Thousands of reports were made to Western Australian authorities and the tremors were felt as far away as Perth and Darwin. There have been 28 tremors since the first quake was recorded at 1.39pm on Sunday.

Western Australians have been warned to prepare for more aftershocks from the state’s biggest earthquake, after more than 30 large tremors were felt in the same area today.

Fortunately Sunday’s magnitude 6.6 undersea quake struck 210km off the Kimberley coast, in the Indian Ocean at 3.39pm AEST.

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It was recorded between Port Hedland and Broome on Sunday afternoon, and sparked tsunami concerns for those close by.

While only minor damage was reported, the mega-quake was felt from Perth to Darwin.

Geoscience Australia data shows its severity matched a quake in Tennant Creek in the Northern Territory in 1988.

The nation’s 10 biggest quakes have all been in WA and the NT, but the 5.6 magnitude Newcastle quake in NSW in 1989 was the most devastating, killing 13 people, injuring many others and causing billions of dollars of damage.

The Newcastle quake’s epicentre was in suburban Boolaroo, 19km from the city centre, while Sunday’s occurred well off the coast.

“We were fortunate it happened some 200km out to sea,” WA’s Emergency Services commissioner Darren Klemm told reporters.

The quake jolted items off shop shelves and caused minor damage including cracks in some buildings, probably due to cyclone-rated construction in the region. “It certainly could be worse,” Mr Klemm said.

WA Emergency Services Minister Fran Logan said locals had been spooked by the possibility of it triggering a tsunami.

Beachgoers nervously watched the waves and people in the remote Aboriginal community of Bidyadanga evacuated to higher ground, but the Bureau of Meteorology said there was no risk.

The strongest aftershock was magnitude 5.5, and Geoscience Australia seismologist Spiro Spiliopoulos warned more were likely, but there was only a small chance a larger quake would follow.

“The Tennant Creek aftershocks went for a very long time — we got small earthquakes there years after the main shock,” he told AAP.

“It’s not unusual. They can go on for days, weeks.” The quakes could be related to mapped fault lines in the area, Mr Spiliopoulos said.

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.

“We were thinking, ‘Is this real or not real?’”

In Port Hedland, Walkabout Hotel employee Shelley, who did not wish to give her surname, said it felt like being on “one of those vibrating machines”. “It just sort of shook the building,” she told AAP.

About 15 earthquakes of magnitude 6.0 and above have been detected in Australia since records began about 1901.

“We seem to get them roughly every eight years on average,” Mr Spiliopoulos said.

“In 1929, there was a magnitude 6.0 and above close to where this one was, the same sort of area off the North West Shelf.”

INDONESIA ROCKED BY QUAKE

Meanwhile eastern Indonesia has also been rocked by a large quake that killed two people and damaged at least a dozen homes.

The government has declared a seven-day emergency response period after Sunday’s magnitude 7.3 quake.

It hit 166km southeast of Ternate, the capital of North Maluku province, at a depth of just 10km. Shallow quakes can cause more damage.

Indonesia’s disaster agency spokesman Agus Wibowo said two women were killed by collapsing houses and more than 2,000 people have fled to temporary shelters. That quake was followed by at least 65 smaller aftershocks.

The agency is still assessing the level of destruction but said two bridges and about 58 homes in one village alone, Saketa, were damaged.

Authorities said there was no tsunami risk from the quake, but many people ran to higher ground anyway. TV footage showed people screaming while running out of a shopping mall in Ternate.

The hardest-hit areas, Sofifi and Labuha, only can be accessed by a 10-hour boat trip from Ternate or by small plane, Wibowo said.

With a population of around one million, North Maluku is one of Indonesia’s least populous provinces.

Indonesia, home to more than 260 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”

A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.