Tsunami warning after 7.8 earthquake strikes off Indonesia

Molucca Sea – (Web Desk) – A powerful 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the Northern Molucca Sea near Indonesia’s historic island of Ternate on Thursday, prompting tsunami warnings across several Southeast Asian nations.

No injuries have been reported so far, but aftershocks reaching magnitude 5 continued to rattle the region. Indonesia placed tsunami alerts on parts of North Maluku and North Sulawesi provinces.

Authorities urged residents of Ternate and Tidore — both famous as the original spice islands — to be ready to evacuate at short notice. Local news channel Metro TV showed footage of buildings damaged by the quake.

The US Geological Survey initially measured the earthquake at magnitude 7.8 and a shallow depth of 10km, but later revised both figures — downgrading the magnitude to 7.4 and updating the depth to 35km below the surface

Its epicentre was about 120km (75 miles) from Ternate, in North Maluku, which has a population of more than 200,000, the agency said.

Hazardous tsunamis were possible along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia within 1,000km (620 miles) of the epicentre, US tsunami warning authorities said.

Waves of height ranging from 0.3m to 1m (0.98ft to 3.28ft) above the tide level could hit some coastal areas of Indonesia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.

It also warned of the risk of waves less than 0.3m (1ft) over tide levels for the coasts of Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Japan may see waves of up to 0.2m (8 inches), but no damage is expected, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, as it warned a tsunami could occur in the Pacific.

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Indonesia straddles the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of high seismic activity where tectonic plates meet, and earthquakes are frequent.