A 7.0 magnitude tremor rattles Indonesia
No Casualties reported, though building damaged
Jakarta: A powerful magnitude 7.0 earthquake has struck the far eastern Indonesian province of Papua, US geologists said on Tuesday, although tsunami monitors said there was no threat of dangerous waves.
The quake struck inland in a mountainous area of Papua in the early hours, almost 250km (150 miles) west of the province’s capital Jayapura at a depth of 52km, the US Geological Survey said.
“The quake was felt very strongly for four seconds,” said disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. “Residents panicked and rushed out of their homes.”
No Tsunami alert sounded yet
The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no threat of a tsunami generated by the quake, which occurred inland underneath the Irian Jaya jungle.
The Earthquake-Report monitoring website said the area has “steep mountain ranges and its vegetation is rainforest, which means that the chance on dangerous landslides is real”.
The entire Indonesian region lies on the highly eearthquake prone region of Pacific Ring of Fire.
