6.5-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia Friday Feb 12,2016

 

A powerful 6.5-magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia  Friday Feb 12,2016, but no tsunami warning was immediately issued, US seismologists said.

Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 6.6, had no potential to trigger a tsunami.

The US Geological Survey measured the quake at 6.5 magnitude and said it was centered about 94 kilometers (58 miles) west of Waingapu, a coastal town on Sumba island in East Nusatenggara province, with a depth of 30 kilometers (19 miles).


The earthquake hit at 5:02 pm local time, the US Geological Survey said, and was centred three kilometres east- southeast of Andekanter in the Sumba region at a depth of 30 kilometres.

The Indonesian disaster mitigation agency said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. "Currently our teams are still checking whether there have been any damages or casualties," the agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told AFP.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity in the region.