By DPA,
Jakarta : Indonesia issued a tsunami warning after a magnitude-7.6 undersea earthquake struck Thursday morning in North Maluku province and nearby eastern regions, triggering panic among residents and office workers, seismologists and officials said.
The tsunami alert was cancelled about 40 minutes later, after no tidal waves materialised, seismologists said, and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
The quake struck about 7 a.m. (0000 GMT), with its epicentre off Halmahera Island, about 122 km northwest of Ternate, the provincial capital on North Maluku. It occurred at a depth of 10 km, Indonesia’s National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said in a short message.
“A tsunami warning had been cancelled after no tidal wave took place following the quake,” said the BMG’s Taufik, who like many Indonesians goes only by one name.
Taufik said that there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties from the quake, the latest in a series to rattle Indonesia in recent days.
Residents and office workers in Ternate ran out their homes in panic, in particular after a text ran on private television warning that the quake could trigger a tsunami.
Elshinta private radio reported that the ground shook for about 30 seconds and was felt by residents of Tomohon district in North Sukawesi, but there were no report of damage or injuries.
Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval. A major earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck in December 2004, leaving more than 170,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia’s Aceh province and half a million people homeless.