Manado, Indonesia. A magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck Indonesia’s Northern Molucca Sea on Thursday, killing one person, damaging buildings and triggering tsunami waves, authorities and witnesses said. Monitoring agencies said the likelihood of further casualties was low.
Tsunami reports and aftershocks
Indonesia’s meteorology agency BMKG said tsunami waves were reported in five locations, with the highest at 0.75 m in North Minahasa in North Sulawesi. BMKG said about 50 aftershocks were monitored, the largest at a magnitude of 5.8.
Warnings issued and later lifted
BMKG chief Teuku Faisal Fathani initially said modelling indicated tsunami potential for waves of 0.5 m to 3 m high, but the agency lifted its tsunami warning later on Thursday morning. U.S. tsunami warning authorities also initially said hazardous tsunamis were possible along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia, but later lifted the threat warning.
Fatality and damage in Manado
One person was killed by falling rubble in Manado city when part of a building used by the local sports authority collapsed, deputy chief of North Sulawesi police Awi Setiyono told reporters.
Quake location and regional context
The epicentre was roughly 580 km south of the Philippine coast and 1,000 km from Malaysia’s Sabah, and struck at a depth of 35 km. Indonesia lies in the “Pacific Ring of Fire,” a seismically active belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.
Assessment from USGS and disaster agency guidance
The United States Geological Survey said nine other quakes with a magnitude of 7 or more have occurred within 250 km of the Thursday event over the last 50 years but had not caused extensive damage. Though the epicentre is within 150 km of densely-populated islands like Ternate and Sulawesi, USGS said there was a low likelihood of further casualties, and economic damage was expected to be limited. Indonesia’s national disaster agency urged caution.
What precautions are local authorities advising residents to take following the earthquake and aftershocks?
