Strong earthquake hits the Banda Sea in Indonesia, no damage

Strong earthquake hits the Banda Sea in Indonesia, no damage

2011-07-13 08:15:10 GMT+7 (ICT)

JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) -- A strong earthquake struck the Banda Sea in Indonesia on early Wednesday morning, seismologists said, causing no damage and posing no tsunami threat.

The 6.1-magnitude earthquake at 6.06 a.m. local time (2106 GMT Tuesday) was centered about 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Pulau Serua, a tiny volcanic island in the Banda Sea. It struck about 142 kilometers (88 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to Indonesia's seismological agency (BMKG).

The United States Geological Survey (USGS), which measured the earthquake at 5.8 on the Richter scale, estimated that some 2,000 people on nearby islands may have felt light shaking, which would unlikely result in damage.

"[The earthquake has] no tsunami potential," a brief text message from BMKG said, giving no other details. Earthquakes below magnitude 7 do usually not generate tsunamis.

Indonesia is on the so-called 'Pacific Ring of Fire', an arc of fault lines circling the Pacific Basin that is prone to frequent and large earthquakes. Volcanic eruptions also occur frequently in the region.

On December 26, 2004, one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded struck off the west coast of Sumatra in Indonesia. The 9.1-magnitude earthquake unleashed a deadly tsunami, striking scores of countries in the region. In all, at least 227,898 people were killed.

And most recently, on October 25, 2010, a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck just off the Mentawai Islands off the western coast of Sumatra. As a result, a wall of water killed at least 435 people on the islands and impacted more than 20 villages.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-07-13