Magnitude 7.5 earthquake hits Indonesia, tsunami warning issued

An undersea earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck Indonesia on Tuesday (December 14), the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, as the country’s meteorological department issued a tsunami warning.

Indonesian authorities estimated the quake at magnitude 7.5, which struck its region of East Nusa Tenggara in the Flores Sea.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, on the other hand, estimated the magnitude at 7.7, placing the earthquake at a depth of 5km.

The US-based Pacific Tsunami warning centre also said that “hazardous” tsunami waves are possible for coasts within 1,000km of the epicentre of the earthquake in Indonesia.

While noting that chances of casualties were low since it was an undersea earthquake, the USGS highlighted that “recent earthquakes in this area have caused secondary hazards such as tsunamis and landslides that might have contributed to losses”.

Indonesia experiences frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A devastating 9.1-magnitude tremor struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004 and subsequently triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia. It is still widely regarded as one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history.

In 2018, another massive earthquake shook the island of Lombok. Several more tremors followed over the next couple of weeks, killing more than 550 people on the holiday island and the neighbouring Sumbawa.

In the same year, another 7.5-magnitude earthquake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing._Hindustan Times