A powerful and deep magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Friday, without triggering a tsunami warning and without any damage being reported at first, the US center said. USGS geology.
No damage identified for the moment
The earthquake occurred 600 kilometers deep and about 220 kilometers south of the town of Katabu on the island of Celebes, according to the USGS which said the quake was felt hundreds of kilometers away. from the epicenter.
The deepest earthquakes tend to cause the least damage. "So far, we have not received any reports of damage," said the Indonesian geophysical agency.
"So far, we have not received any reports of damage," said the Indonesian geophysical agency. An AFP journalist in Kupang, in the far south of the epicenter, said he saw buildings shake when the earthquake struck and panicked residents rush outside.
The Indonesian archipelago is located on the Pacific "ring of fire", an area of high seismic activity. On Wednesday, two large-scale, shallow earthquakes struck Indonesia off the island of Sumatra without claiming any casualties or causing significant damage.
In 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi left more than 4,300 dead and missing. Another devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, causing a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including around 170,000 in Indonesia.