A powerful magnitude-7.4 earthquake has struck in the Molucca Sea region north-east of Indonesia, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The USGS reported aftershocks as high as magnitude 5, and Indonesia’s meteorology agency BMKG reported tsunami waves in West Halmahera at 0.3m high and Bitung at 0.2m high.

The quake, which hit early today, had a depth of 35 kilometres and its epicentre was 127km west-north-west of Ternate, Indonesia, the USGS said.

The US tsunami warning system said tsunami waves were possible in neighbouring countries.

Indonesian broadcaster Metro TV reported one person had died from falling rubble in the Manado area, and video showed damaged buildings.

A Manado resident told Reuters that people ran out of their houses in panic. There was no visible damage in her neighbourhood, but items fell off shelves, and power had been cut.

Indonesia straddles the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone, where different plates on the earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes. 

Regional governments in some cities, such as on Ternate and Tidore, the historic Spice Islands, were urged to prepare citizens for evacuation.

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

The epicentre of the quake was roughly 580km south of the Philippine coast and 1,000km from Malaysia’s Sabah.

The Philippines’ seismology agency, PHIVOLCS, said there was “no destructive tsunami threat” to the country based on the latest data.

Malaysia’s meteorological department said in a Facebook post that there was no tsunami threat to Malaysia at the moment and that it was monitoring developments.

Waves of heights ranging from 0.3m to 1m above the tide level could hit some coastal areas of Indonesia, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said.

It also warned of the risk of waves less than 0.3m 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, but no damage is expected, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, as it warned a tsunami could occur in the Pacific.

Source: Reuters

-- Agencies