A shallow earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck Indonesia’s Central Papua province on Friday (Sep 19), the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported, with no initial reports of casualties.

The USGS said the earthquake’s epicentre was located 28km south of the town of Nabire in the Central Papua province, which is on the Indonesian half of the large Pacific island shared with Papua New Guinea.

Abdul Muhari, a spokesman for the national disaster mitigation agency, said the quake had damaged several public facilities but there were no reports of casualties.

“Initial monitoring also reported broken glass in an airport, collapsed ceilings in a regent’s office, a damaged bridge, and power and telecommunication networks cut off,” Abdul said in a statement.

The jolt woke local residents who immediately rushed outside.

“The earthquake struck at around 3am (2am, Singapore time). I was sleeping soundly but it was getting bigger, so I ran outside with other family members,” 37-year-old Cicilia Mamman told AFP.

While the USGS reported the quake at a 6.1 magnitude and depth of 10km, Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency gave it a magnitude of 6.5 - updating from earlier reading of 6.6 - and a depth of 24km.

The agency’s head of earthquake and tsunami mitigation, Daryono, who goes by one name, said on X that 50 aftershocks had been recorded - the largest with a magnitude of 5.1 - as of 7.30 am Jakarta time.

Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

The arc of intense seismic activity, where tectonic plates collide, stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Source: CNA 

-Agencies