Massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake triggers tsunami alert | World | News
The earthquake, whose magnitude was reduced from 7.6 to 7.4, occurred at 6.48 am local time at a depth of 35 kilometers. The epicenter was 127 kilometers (79 miles) west-northwest of Ternate in the archipelago’s North Maluku province, which has a population of over 205,000, according to the USGS.
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The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said dangerous tsunami waves were possible along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia “within 1,000 kilometers of the epicenter.” The USGS also warned that tsunami waves reaching 0.3 meters to one meter (3.2 ft) above tide level were possible for part of the Indonesian coastline.
As further advice, the US tsunami warning system predicts waves less than 30 centimeters above tide level for the coasts of Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Taiwan.
Japan’s meteorological agency added that “slight changes in sea level” may occur along the country’s coasts, but no tsunami damage is expected.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said there was no tsunami threat to the Australian mainland, islands or territories.
Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 280 million people, lies on major seismic faults and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions thanks to its location on the Ring of Fire, a 40,000-kilometer (25,000-mile) horseshoe-shaped belt around the Pacific Ocean. The Ring of Fire is home to 75% of the world’s volcanoes and 90% of the earthquakes.
In 2022, a shallow 5.6 magnitude earthquake killed more than 600 people in Cianjur, West Java; It was the deadliest earthquake in Indonesia since the earthquake and tsunami in Sulawesi in 2018 killed more than 4,300 people.
In 2004, an extremely powerful earthquake in the Indian Ocean triggered a tsunami the next day, killing more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, mostly in the Indonesian province of Aceh.
