The tremor occurred at a depth of 51.4 km off the eastern tip of the island of Timor, which is shared between East Timor and Indonesia.
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A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck off the east coast of East Timor, Friday, May 27, announced the American Institute of Geophysics (USGS).
The tremor occurred at a depth of 51.4 km off the eastern tip of the island of Timor, which is shared between East Timor and Indonesia. A tsunami monitoring agency said the quake “could generate a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean region”.
East Timor is on the “ring of fire” of the Pacific, where the meeting of tectonic plates causes high seismic activity.
In February, a 6.2 magnitude earthquake in North Sumatra, neighboring Indonesia, killed at least eight people.
In 2004, a magnitude 9.1 earthquake hit the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people across the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
East Timor, with a population of 1.3 million, is the youngest country in Southeast Asia and recently celebrated the 20th anniversary of its independence.