SIDOARJO, Indonesia: A 6.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia’s main island of Java late on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck around 11:49 pm (1649 GMT), was around 156 kilometres east of Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city, at a depth of 13.9 kilometres, according to the USGS.
The jolt was felt around the East Javan town of Sidoarjo, where an Islamic school building collapsed a day earlier, killing at least three people, with rescuers still racing to save dozens of victims trapped underneath piles of concrete rubble. It was not immediately clear whether the rescue operation was affected.
The quake prompted hotel guests staying in Sidoarjo to flee their rooms.
There was no tsunami threat from the quake, according to Daryono, director of earthquake and tsunami of the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG).
Daryono, who goes by one name like many Indonesians, said in a statement that as of 00:29 Jakarta time, four aftershocks were recorded, including one with 4.4 magnitude.
Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.
The arc of intense seismic activity, where tectonic plates collide, stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
6.9-Magnitude quake jolts Philippines
Earlier on Tuesday evening, a powerful 6.9-magnitude quake struck off the coast of the central Philippines, damaging buildings and roads and knocking out power in parts of the region.
The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) said the quake, tectonic in origin, hit at 9:59 p.m. local time (1359 GMT) with its epicentre located 17 kilometres northeast of Bogo City in Cebu province. The quake struck at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, amplifying the shaking felt across the Visayas region.
Municipal workers checked a collapsed public building and a gym, both in the north of the island of Cebu, hours after the quake struck at sea off its northern tip, provincial rescue official Wilson Ramos said.
“There could be people trapped beneath collapsed buildings,” he said as cited by AFP, adding that rescue efforts were underway in the town of San Remigio and Bogo, a city near the epicentre with 90,000 residents. He said he did not know how many people were missing.
Recovery efforts were being hampered by the dark as well as aftershocks, he added. The US Geological Service has recorded four quakes of magnitude 5.0 or higher in the area following the first tremor.
