Indonesia earthquake kills 1, triggers tsunami waves
The 7.4-magnitude quake hit at a depth of 35km in the Northern Maluku Sea off Indonesia’s Ternate island
Indonesia’s meteorology agency BMKG said tsunami waves were reported in five locations, the highest at 0.75 metre (2.46 feet) in North Minahasa in North Sulawesi and about 50 aftershocks were monitored, the largest at a magnitude of 5.8.
BMKG chief Teuku Faisal Fathaniinitially said modelling indicated there was tsunami potential for waves of 0.5 metre to 3 metres high, but the agency lifted its tsunami warning later on Thursday morning.
US tsunami warning authorities initially said hazardous tsunamis were possible along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia within 1,000km (620 miles) of the epicentre, but later removed the threat warning.
One person was killed by falling rubble in the Manado area when part of a building used by the local sport authority collapsed, deputy chief of North Sulawesi police Awi Setiyono told reporters.
Indonesia is a tectonically complex part of the “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a seismically active belt of volcanoes stretching from South America to the Russian Far East.