6.1 magnitude earthquake strikes off of Indonesia

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia late on Monday, the US Geological Survey said, as neighbouring Papua New Guinea was rocked by two quakes in 24 hours.

However, no tsunami warning was issued for Indonesia and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The quake was measured at a depth of 11.9km (seven miles) with its epicentre in the Seram Sea around 194km northwest of Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, according to USGS.

A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia late on Monday, the US Geological Survey said

‘The earthquake does not have tsunami potential. I am still gathering more information regarding damages and casualties,’ Mochammad Riyadi of Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency told AFP.

Maluku is a large archipelagic province. The nearest major island is Buru, located some 50km south of the epicentre.

‘There’s no damage at our place and I don’t think there’s any damage out there because of the quake,’ Hentihu, a resident of Namlea, a small town on Buru island, said.

Residents of Ambon, a city with a population of 330,000, also said they were little affected by the tremor.

A landslide caused damage to a road located near Tabubil after an earthquake that struck Papua New Guinea's Southern Highlands on Monday

A landslide caused damage to a road located near Tabubil after an earthquake that struck Papua New Guinea’s Southern Highlands on Monday

Meanwhile, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 hit Papua New Guinea early on Tuesday.

The quake was recorded 142km (88 miles) west southwest of the city of Mount Hagen at a depth of about 10 km, according to the USGS.  

It hit less than 24 hours after Papua New Guinea was struck by a major quake of magnitude 7.5 in the early hours of Monday.

Both Indonesia and PNG sit on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a hotspot of seismic activity.

At least three people were killed and hundreds of buildings were damaged following a 6.5-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s Java island in December.

An earthquake struck Indonesia’s western province of Aceh in December 2016, killing more than 100 people, injuring many more and leaving tens of thousands homeless.

Aceh was one of the areas worst hit by the devastating 2004 tsunami, triggered by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra.

The wall of waves killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia. 



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