An earthquake measuring 7.3 hit eastern Indonesia on Tuesday (13), causing panic among residents, but leaving no casualties, or significant material damage – according to first estimates by authorities.
The earthquake was recorded at 3:20 am GMT (0:20 am GMT) and had its epicenter north of the island of Flores, 100 kilometers from the city of Maumere, at a depth of 18.5 km, reported the United States Geological Survey (USGS, na acronym in English).
“I was in the field. People, in panic, started to run. I’m still scared,” said Nuraini, a resident of Adonara Island, east of Flores.
No deaths or significant damage were reported in the earthquake-affected areas, but authorities urged caution as several aftershocks followed.
One person was injured on Manggarai (in the smaller Sonda Islands to the east), and a school was damaged on Selayar Island, reported disaster management agency spokesman Abdul Muhari.
Images from the affected region showed Indonesians fleeing their homes, some with young children. There was also traffic jams from motorcycles and cars going to higher areas.
“I was looking at my cell phone when the tremor happened. I felt for 30 seconds. It was strong,” said Alwan, a resident of Buton, in the southeast of the island of Sulawesi.
– Circle of fire –
In Maumere, a town of about 80,000 on the island of Flores, the earthquake interrupted a vaccination campaign.
“People were being vaccinated when the earthquake hit. In panic, people started to run”, described a resident of the city, Yulius Tara.
“There were more than 200 people (…) and the vaccination was interrupted because of the earthquake”, he added.
Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location in the Pacific’s “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense telluric activity that stretches from Japan to Southeast Asia.
In 2004, Indonesia suffered a devastating 9.1 magnitude earthquake off the coast of Sumatra. The intensity of the phenomenon triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including 170,000 in Indonesia.
In 2018, another strong earthquake rocked the island of Lombok, followed by several more earthquakes over the next two weeks that left more than 550 people dead.
In the same year, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake and subsequent tsunami on the island of Sulawesi left more than 4,300 dead, or missing.
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