Earth 'ringing like a bell'

CANBERRA - Areas of Asia are still vibrating almost two weeks after the earthquake that caused the Boxing Day tsunami.

Australian National University scientists said much of the planet was still ringing like a bell.

Dr Herb McQueen said he was still recording gravity vibrations generated by the earthquake and they would continue for another few weeks.

"The main signal we now see is a steady oscillation of a few parts in 10 billion of normal gravity, which corresponds to about a millimetre of vertical motion of the Earth," he said.

McQueen added the tremor was a relatively rare seismic event and could reverberate for another few weeks.

The superconducting gravimeter, at Mt Stromlo Observatory in Canberra's south, is Australia's most sensitive gravity measuring instrument.

It detects faint changes in gravity caused by tides and earthquakes to map the structure of the interior of the planet.

- AAP