Powerful earthquake strikes off coast of Indonesia, tsunami warning issued
The earthquake triggered a tsunami warning in Indonesia and prompted hundreds to evacuate.
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MAUMERE, Indonesia: A strong 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Flores island in eastern Indonesia early Saturday (Aug 15), the US Geological Survey and Indonesian authorities said, triggering a tsunami warning and prompting hundreds to evacuate.
The epicentre of the shallow quake was located off the north coast of the island, about 68km northwest of Ende, USGS said.
The initial jolt was followed by strong aftershocks in the same area, including one with a magnitude of 6.1.
"Suddenly it started to shake and I panicked," 31-year-old hospital customer service official, Lukas Lotar, told AFP.
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"Patients also fled the hospital, the jolt was big. I saw some walls were cracked," he told AFP.
Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) warned there was a possibility of tsunami waves being generated by the quake.
"Tsunami modelling results indicate that this earthquake has the potential to generate a tsunami in the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara, South Sulawesi, and West Nusa Tenggara," BMKG earthquake and tsunami director Wijayanto said.
An alert was issued for waves ranging from 0.5m to 3m.
Residents in the town of Maumere on Flores Island, about 2,400km away, were evacuating to higher ground, an AFP correspondent saw.
He said the sea in the area could be seen receding, a common phenomenon ahead of a possible tsunami.
Images broadcast on Indonesian television showed hundreds of people in nearby Nagekeo regency evacuating the area as well as damaged buildings.
Authorities have not reported any casualties, but said tsunami waves between 19cm and 30cm have been detected.
Indonesia and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - an arc of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
Among Indonesia's history of deadly quakes is a devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor in 2004 that struck off the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
The Boxing Day tragedy was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.
In 2018, a powerful quake shook the island of Lombok and several more tremors followed over the next couple of weeks, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa.
Later that year, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.
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