A powerful earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale struck southwestern Indonesia, causing significant tremors but no immediate reports of casualties or major damage.
Indonesia, a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people, is prone to seismic upheaval because of its location on major geological faults known as the Pacific “Ring of Fire.”
Indonesia earthquake: The tremors shook parts of Gorontalo, North Sulawesi, North Maluku, and Central Sulawesi provinces, but no serious damage or injuries were reported.
According to reports, the powerful quake damaged village buildings in eastern Indonesia and the shaking was also widely felt in northern Australia.
Dozens of buildings were damaged in Indonesia, including Islamic boarding schools, a hospital and other public facilities. Also damaged were roads and bridges, and parts of the region experienced power blackouts.
Indonesia earthquake: The tremors were felt at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). It also caused panic in the greater Jakarta area, where high-rises swayed and some people evacuated.
Indonesia is a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people that is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis.
The US Geological Survey said the earthquake measured 6.2 magnitude and struck about 66 km (41 miles) north-northwest of Bukittinggi, a hilly town in West Sumatra province. It struck about 12 km (7.4 miles) below the Earth's surface.
Mamuju, the provincial capital of nearly 300,000 people, was strewn with debris from collapsed buildings. The governor’s office building was almost flattened by the quake and a shopping mall reduced to a crumpled hulk. Two hospitals were damaged.
A strong, shallow earthquake shook Indonesia’s Sulawesi island just after midnight, causing landslides and sending people fleeing from their homes in the nighttime darkness.
An earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale rocked Indonesia's western Bengkulu province on Wednesday, the country's meteorology and geophysics agency said.
In the previous week, Indonesia was hit by two major earthquakes within an hour. According to European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC), the earthquakes measured 6.1 on the Richter Scale.
The quake struck at 9.53 a.m. with the epicentre at 245 km northeast of Maluku Baratdaya and the depth at 231 km under sea bed.
Nine minutes after the quake, an aftershock of 5.2-magnitude struck off the province, an official said.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 260 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. A powerful quake on the island of Lombok killed 505 people in August.
The magnitude 7.5 earthquake and the tsunami it generated devastated the city of Palu and nearby communities in Central Sulawesi province.
As per the latest reports, the death toll has risen to 832 and is expected to rise.
Among the death figures, 821 were recorded in Palu, the provincial capital, and the rest in Donggala district, while figures in two other affected districts, Parigi Moutong and North Mamuju, were not included, the National Disaster Management Agency's Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said.
Indonesian president Joko Widodo said the military was being called in to the region to help search-and-rescue teams get to victims and find bodies.
Multiple quakes were followed by a tsunami on Friday that swept away thousands of houses, hospitals, hotels, shopping centres and buildings in the region. Video on social media showed people screaming and fleeing in panic for safety.
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