A strong undersea earthquake struck near the Moluccas islands in northern Indonesia on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said on its website, but there were no reports of a tsunami or casualties.
The agency put the strength of the quake, which struck at 10.32am (1.32am GMT), at a magnitude of 6,1.
Indonesia’s state meteorological agency in Manado on nearby Sulawesi island originally measured it at a 6,6 magnitude and because of that issued a tsunami warning to local broadcasters.
”With that magnitude, it has a tsunami potential but a tsunami has not happened. If it did happen, it would have occurred by now. But we had to circulate a tsunami warning here,” agency official Mudjie told Reuters by phone from Manado, which was 360km from the epicentre in the Moluccas sea.
”We are waiting for signs to cancel [the warning],” he said.
The Hawaii-based Pacific Warning Tsunami Warning Centre did not issue a tsunami warning.
Manado, the closest large city from the epicentre, is about 2 200km north-east of the capital Jakarta.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the earthquake. – Reuters