Moderate undersea earthquake shakes southeast Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – A string of moderate earthquakes struck waters in southeast Indonesia yesterday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties and no warnings of a tsunami, meteorological officials said.
A 5.6-magnitude quake struck beneath the Maluka Sea some 210 kilometres (130 miles) south of North Sulawesi’s provincial capital, Manado, at 7:53 pm local time, the U. Geological Survey reported on its Web site.
Charles McCreery, director of the Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, said the quake was “well below our threshold for issuing any kind of advisory … it’s nothing to be alarmed about”.
It was followed by aftershocks measuring 5.1 and 5.0 in the same area less than two hours later, the USGS said.
At 10:38 pm, a separate undersea earthquake measuring magnitude 5.1 struck 33 kilometres (20 miles) beneath the Arafura Sea, about 146 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Tual, the USGS said.
