Google/AFP, - Sep 30, 2010
JAKARTA — Indonesia on Thursday cancelled a tsunami alert issued after a major quake struck off West Papua, the national geophysics agency said.
The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency measured the earthquake at 7.4 while the US Geological Survey recorded two closely spaced quakes measuring 6.2 and 7.2.
"The tsunami alert has been lifted and also the quake had no potential for destruction but it was felt in several areas," agency technical head Suharjono told AFP, adding that strong aftershocks followed.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties in the remote area.
USGS said the first 6.2 magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Papua in eastern Indonesia, revising down its initial magnitude of 6.6.
The quake was centred 114 kilometres (71 miles) north-northwest of Dobo in the Kepulauan Aru islands off the southwest of Papua. It hit at 2:10 am (1710 GMT Wednesday) at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres and was followed a minute later by a stronger 7.2 quake, USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no warnings were in effect following the quakes in the remote area located between the island of New Guinea and northern Australia.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "ring of fire", where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity, and the archipelago is frequently struck by powerful earthquakes.
A 7.1-magnitude quake off the north coast of Papua in June killed 17 people and left thousands homeless.
The 2004 Asian tsunami -- triggered by a 9.3-magnitude quake off Sumatra -- killed at least 168,000 people in Indonesia alone.
A 7.6-magnitude quake killed about 1,000 people in the port of Padang, western Sumatra, on September 30 last year.
Related Article:
No comments:
Post a Comment