Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off Indonesia
Powerful 7.0-magnitude earthquake strikes off Indonesia
- The quake was at a depth of 368 miles, EMSC said, and struck 4:55pm local time
- The quake was strongly felt in Surabaya, Tuban, Denpasar, and Semarang
An earthquake of magnitude 7.0 struck Java, Indonesia on Friday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said.
The quake was at a depth of 368 miles, EMSC said, and struck at 4:55 pm local time (0955 GMT), with Indonesia’s geological agency ruling out a tsunami.
The quake was strongly felt in Surabaya, Tuban, Denpasar, and Semarang, Abdul Muhari, spokesperson for Indonesia’s Disaster Agency, told Reuters news agency.
‘There is no damage reported so far because the quake is very deep,’ Muhari said. ‘I don’t think there will damages but we are still monitoring.’
Indonesia straddles the so-called ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, a highly active seismic zone, where different plates on the Earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
The quake was at a depth of 368 miles, EMSC said, and struck at 4:55 pm local time (0955 GMT), with Indonesia’s geological agency ruling out a tsunami
The tremor was felt over a large part of the island of Java, and as far away as the island of Bali.
‘In Surabaya, it was barely felt, but some lamps were swaying,’ said an AFP reporter on the scene, adding that he felt the tremor ‘for a while’.
In November, a 5.6-magnitude quake hit West Java province, on the same island, killing 602 people.
Most of the victims of that earthquake were killed when buildings collapsed or in landslides triggered by the tremor.
A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra island in Indonesia on April 3, shaking homes of panicked residents but causing no casualties or damage.
Earlier this year, two huge earthquakes struck Turkey, killing tens of thousands of people. At the time, scientists warned that fault lines around the world could be destabilised as a result of the quakes.
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