A powerful earthquake of magnitude 7.4 has been recorded at 6:48 a.m. Indonesia time today (02) in the Molucca Sea between the Sulawesi and Maluku island groups, confirmed the Disaster Management Centre (DMC) stated.
The major offshore quake struck in eastern Indonesia also triggered a tsunami warning and up to 30cm-high waves, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.
The DMC, however, noted that there is no tsunami threat to Sri Lanka owing to the earthquake.
Therefore, the coastal areas of Sri Lanka have been declared safe.
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.
(With agencies inputs)
