Key points
- There is no tsunami threat: Pacific Tsunami Warning Center
- Says quake “did not have the potential to cause a tsunami”
- In 2004, a magnitude-9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami
JAKARTA: A magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck Monday off eastern Indonesia, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, but a monitor said there was no tsunami threat.
AFP cited USGS as saying the quake struck at 12:49 pm Western Indonesia time (0549 GMT) and its epicentre was at a depth of 66 kilometres (40 miles) around 177 kilometres west of the city of Tual in the eastern Maluku province.
“No tsunami threat”
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat, and Indonesia’s geophysics agency said the quake “did not have the potential to cause a tsunami”.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
A magnitude-6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.
In 2018, a magnitude-7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.
In 2004, a magnitude-9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.
“Ring of Fire”
According to UK-based newspaper Independent, Indonesia, a country of more than 270 million people spread across an archipelago, sits along the Pacific “Ring of Fire” – a zone of intense seismic activity. The country is home to 120 active volcanoes and frequently experiences earthquakes, eruptions and tsunamis.
