6.4 quake off eastern Indonesia, tsunami alert lifted

A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia in the early hours of Monday, triggering a brief tsunami alert that was swiftly lifted, according to seismic monitoring organisations.

The quake struck deep at some 171 kilometres (106 miles) below the earth's surface in the Banda Sea, the US Geological Survey said.

A tsunami alert was initially triggered by the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System (IOTWMS).

However IOTWMS followed up with a second bulletin that said there was "no threat to countries in the Indian Ocean".

The quake's epicentre was located in a sparsely inhabited part of the Banda Sea, 380 kilometres from Ambon, the capital of Maluku province.

Local officials said there were no reports of damage or injury.

"The tremor was felt mildly for two to three seconds by the locals, there was no panic and no tsunami threat," disaster mitigation agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

A similar 6.1-magnitude quake hit close to Monday's epicentre on 26 February and caused no damage.

Indonesia sits on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, a seismic activity hotspot.

It is frequently hit by quakes, most of them harmless.

However the archipelago remains acutely alert to tremors that might trigger tsunamis.

In 2004 a devastating tsunami caused by a magnitude 9.3 undersea earthquake off the coast of Sumatra killed 220,000 people in countries around the Indian Ocean, including 168,000 in Indonesia.

Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
When the Earth Quakes
A world of storm and tempest

Tweet

Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.

SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly

paypal only

SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once

credit card or paypal

Seismologists introduce new measure of earthquake ruptures
Santa Cruz CA (SPX) Mar 23, 2018
A team of seismologists has developed a new measurement of seismic energy release that can be applied to large earthquakes. Called the Radiated Energy Enhancement Factor (REEF), it provides a measure of earthquake rupture complexity that better captures variations in the amount and duration of slip along the fault for events that may have similar magnitudes. Magnitude is a measure of the relative size of an earthquake. There are several different magnitude scales (including the original Richter sc ... read more