An offshore earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale damaged buildings in villages on sparsely populated islands in eastern Indonesia on Tuesday and was felt across northern Australia, according to Indonesian authorities.
Two school buildings and 124 homes were damaged in the Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia’s Moluccan archipelago, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency said, with only one person injured.
A massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck a region in Indonesia, with tremors in Darwin in the Northern Territory.
The quake hit the Tanimbar region early Tuesday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said. pic.twitter.com/6ddd7YfSai– Apex World News (@apexworldnews) January 10, 2023
“Local residents felt strong tremors for three to five seconds. There was panic when the earthquake hit and residents evacuated their homes,” agency spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
The epicenter of the 7.6-magnitude quake was in the Banda Sea, near the Tanimbar Islands, which have a population of about 127,000.. The quake was felt in several regions, including the Indonesian provinces of Papua and East Nusa Tenggara, as well as northern Australia.
A massive magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck a region in Indonesia, with tremors in Darwin in the Northern Territory.
The quake hit the Tanimbar region early Tuesday, the European Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) said. pic.twitter.com/6ddd7YfSai– Apex World News (@apexworldnews) January 10, 2023
Indonesia’s Bureau of Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics issued a ‘tsunami’ warning, which was withdrawn three hours later.
“Based on four tide gauge readings around the center of the earthquake, there was no significant anomaly or change in sea level,” said agency chief Dwikorita Karnawati.
Kondisi sebuah jalan yang amblas di wilayah propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur (NTT) dari gempa 7.6 kepulauan Tanimbar – Laut Banda
(01/10/2023) #NTT #earthquake #BandaSea pic.twitter.com/glhQU73xr5
– Disaster in Indonesia (@IndoTropical) January 10, 2023
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake was located at a depth of 105 kilometers, not far from the northernmost tip of Australia and also East Timor. Deeper earthquakes tend to cause less damage to the surface, but are widely felt.
More than 1,000 people in northern Australia, including the city of Darwin, reported to Geoscience Australia that they felt the quake. The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center said the quake did not pose a ‘tsunami’ threat to the mainland or any islands or territories.
Often ravaged by earthquakes, Indonesia lies on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, the arc of seismic fault lines around the Pacific Ocean where most of the world’s earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur.
Source: DN
