An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 struck the Northern Maluku Sea off Indonesia’s historic spice island of Ternate on Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, triggering a tsunami warning for neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.
There were no immediate reports of injuries, though the agency reported aftershocks of magnitude as high as 5, and Indonesia called tsunami warnings for areas in its provinces of North Maluku and North Sulawesi.
Regional governments in some cities, such as Ternate and Tidore, the former spice islands, were urged to prepare citizens for evacuation, while news channel Metro TV broadcast images of damaged buildings.
The quake, its magnitude revised down from an initial 7.8, struck at a depth of 35km (22 miles), greater than the early figure of 10km, the USGS added.
Its epicentre was about 120km from Ternate, in North Maluku, which has a population of more than 200,000, the agency said.
Ternate resident Budi Nurgianto, 42, said he was inside his house when the tremor struck, sending people panicking outside.
“The quake was felt strongly. I heard it first from the walls of the house that shook,” he said.
“When I went outside, there were many people outside. They were panicked. The quake was felt [for] quite long, more than a minute.
“I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower.”
