Indonesia lifts tsunami warning after powerful quake
Written by Millennium on July 8, 2019
There were no reports on Monday of major damage in Indonesia from a weekend magnitude 6.9 earthquake off the northeastern coast of the island of Sulawesi, and authorities lifted a tsunami warning.
The earthquake, late on Sunday, struck out at sea at a depth of 36km with several smaller aftershocks, geophysics agency Meteorological, Geophysical and Climatological Agency (BMKG) said.
“The tsunami early warning has ended,” the BMKG said in a statement.
Tremors shook buildings, alarming residents of some cities, and authorities urged people to move to higher ground.
“The quake was felt quite strongly and with an intensity that lasted quite long,” Yusuf Latif, a spokesman for the search and rescue agency, told Reuters.
“There were no reports of damage or casualties in Ternate,” he added, referring to the city closest to the epicentre.
The US Geological Survey had earlier said the earthquake was centred 185km southeast of Manado at a depth of 24km.
The quake caused panic in the city of Ternate in the Maluku islands chain, where people ran to higher ground.
Local media reported some hospitals in Ternate, about 130km from the epicentre, suffered minor damage and had to evacuate patients
