Jakarta, Jan 10, (dpa/GNA) – At least 15 houses including two schools were damaged, in a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that rocked the Molucca Islands in eastern Indonesia, in the early hours of Tuesday, but there were no reports of casualties, an official said.
The Tanimbar archipelago was the hardest-hit, with most of the damage reported there, said Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for the National Disaster Management Agency.
There were also no reports of a tsunami, even though a tsunami warning was issued immediately after the quake struck.
The Indonesian meteorological and geophysical agency, BMKG, initially put the quake’s magnitude at 7.9, but later revised it to 7.6, with the epicentre in the sea about 148 kilometres north-west of the Tanimbars.
Residents in the northern Australian city of Darwin, some 600 kilometres to the south, felt the effects as well, the Australian website news.com.au reported.
According to the US earthquake observatory, the source was relatively deep, about 105 kilometres below the sea floor. The quakes that cause the greatest destruction, usually occur much closer to the surface.
Indonesia lies on the fire belt, an arc in the Pacific Ocean, where Earth’s plates meet. Numerous volcanoes are located there, and severe earthquakes occur frequently.
GNA