JAKARTA (Kashmir English): An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the Northern Molucca Sea off Indonesia’s historic spice island of Ternate on Thursday with no immediate reports of injuries.
The United States Geological Survey confirmed the intensity of the tremor at 7.4.
Subsequently, Indonesia issued a tsunami warning for neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.
With no immediate reports of injuries, the agency, however, reported aftershocks of magnitude as high as 5, and Indonesia issued tsunami warnings for areas in its provinces of North Maluku and North Sulawesi.
Indonesia issued tsunami warnings, with 0.3-1m waves possible that may hit Guam, Japan, Malaysia, PNG, Philippines, and Taiwan.
Metro TV of Indonesia
Local governments in some cities, such as Ternate and Tidore, the former spice islands, were urged to prepare citizens for evacuation, as Metro TV broadcast images of damaged buildings.
The quake struck at a depth of 35km (22 miles), greater than the early figure of 10km (6 miles), the USGS said.
The epicentre of the earthquake was about 120km (75 miles) from Ternate, in North Maluku, which has a population of more than 200,000, the US agency said.
