A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia on Tuesday, triggering residents to flee from buildings, but a tsunami warning was eventually lifted.
No casualties or significant property damage have so far been reported in areas where the earthquake was felt, but authorities have called for caution.
The 18.5 km-deep earthquake occurred at 3.20 GMT north of the island of Flores, in the sea of the same name, about 100 kilometers from the town of Maumere, according to the report. American institute USGS.
“I was in a field. The people, panicked, started running. I’m still scared, ”said Nuraini, a resident of Adonara Island, in the Flores East region.
“In the regions closest to the epicenter […] there was no damage, ”Antonius Hubertus Gege Hadjon, responsible for the Flores Est district, told Metro TV. But “when the earthquake hit, all the people fled their homes.”
The first images from the affected region show Indonesians fleeing their homes and traffic jams with motorcycles and vehicles heading for the heights.
“I was looking at my phone when the earthquake hit. I felt it for 30 seconds. He was strong, ”testified Alwan, a resident of Buton, in the southeast of the island of Celebes.
Belt of fire
The Honolulu-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no longer a risk of a tsunami. At first, he warned of dangerous waves along the coasts located within a radius of 1000 km around the epicenter.
Shallow earthquakes tend to do more damage than deep earthquakes.
Indonesia regularly faces earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, due to its location on the Pacific ‘Ring of Fire’, where tectonic plates meet.
The archipelago remains marked by the earthquake of December 26, 2004 with a magnitude of 9.1 off the coast of Sumatra, which caused a gigantic tsunami and killed 220,000 people across the region, including about 170,000 for Indonesia alone.
In 2018, the island of Lombok and the neighboring island of Sumbawa were hit by a violent earthquake, which killed more than 550 people. In the same year, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami that struck Palu, on the island of Sulawesi, killing or missing 4,300 people.
In January, around 100 people were killed by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake on the island of Celebes, which brought down many buildings in the coastal town of Mamuju.