Strong quake hits eastern Indonesia; no tsunami warning

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A strong and shallow earthquake hit Indonesia’s easternmost Papua region on Saturday, but the epicenter was far from populated areas and there was no risk of a tsunami, officials said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 6.1 quake struck at a depth of just 10 kilometres (6 miles). Shallow quakes tend to cause more damage than deeper ones.

Rahmat Triyono, who heads the earthquake and tsunami centre at Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency, said there was no risk of a tsunami from the quake and there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

He said most residents in the West Papua provincial capital of Manokwari did not feel the quake.

With a population of around 877,000, West Papua is one of Indonesia’s least populous provinces.

Indonesia, home to more than 260 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia.