6.6-magnitude quake hits eastern Indonesia, no tsunami alert

By Team Asianet Newsable | First Published Apr 9, 2024, 4:36 PM IST

A 6.0 magnitude quake hit Indonesia's eastern province of West Papua on Tuesday, but did not trigger a tsunami warning, the country's meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

A magnitude-6.6 earthquake hit Indonesia's eastern region on Tuesday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no tsunami warning issued. According to the USGS, the earthquake occurred at 09:48 GMT off the coast of Halmahera island in North Maluku province, at a depth of around 35 kilometers (22 miles). Following the earthquake, there were no early reports of damage or casualties.

The earthquake in the Molucca Sea posed "no tsunami threat," according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.According to the USGS, the earthquake occurred at 09:48 GMT off the coast of Halmahera island in North Maluku province, at a depth of around 35 kilometers (22 miles).

Following the earthquake, there were no early reports of damage or casualties. The earthquake in the Molucca Sea posed "no tsunami threat," according to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

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But Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) advised residents in nearby areas of possible aftershocks.

Due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of strong seismic activity where tectonic plates meet that spans from Japan to Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific basin, Indonesia, a large archipelago nation, is subject to regular earthquakes.

A January 2021 earthquake of a magnitude of 6.2 struck the island of Sulawesi, killing over 100 people and leaving others homeless. In Palu, Sulawesi, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and its tsunami claimed more than 2,200 lives in 2018. Furthermore, in 2004 the Aceh province was hit by a magnitude 9.1 earthquake that resulted in a tsunami and the deaths of over 170,000 people throughout Indonesia.

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