An earthquake measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale struck today, Tuesday, off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, according to the US Geological Survey.
The Indonesian Geophysics Agency issued a warning of a possible tsunami, forcing residents to resort to heights.
The epicenter of the earthquake, which occurred at three o’clock local time, was located near the coast of the Mentawi Islands at a depth of 15.5 km, without reports of significant damage or casualties.
Patrice Sanini, a resident of Siberut, the largest of the Mentawi islands, said: “The tremor was so strong that we had difficulty standing and going out. We had difficulty getting out of the house and had to stick to the walls.”
Patrice added: “It is the strongest earthquake this year. I thought a tsunami would happen. Fortunately, no tsunami was recorded.”
– Warning of the possibility of a tsunami
The Indonesian Geophysics Agency issued a warning of a possible tsunami and kept it for about two hours. Indonesia is witnessing regular seismic and volcanic activity due to its location on the “Ring of Fire” in the Pacific Ocean, where several tectonic layers collide.
And yesterday I A strong earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale hit Sunday evening off the coast of Indonesia, according to the European Mediterranean Seismological Center.
The epicenter of the earthquake occurred at a depth of two kilometers, at a distance of 218 km west of the city of Padang, which has a population of 840 thousand people, and no information was received about possible losses and damage.
Yesterday, Saturday, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Center reported that a 6.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded off the coast of Indonesia.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center indicated that the epicenter of the earthquake occurred in the Banda Sea, 346 km southwest of the city of Ambon, which has a population of about 355,000.
The most fatal earthquake occurred in Indonesia on December 26, 2004 off the coast of Sumatra, killing more than 230,000 people in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. It caused huge waves, some of which reached 30 meters high, on the coast of Banda Aceh in northern Sumatra, and the magnitude of this earthquake reached 9.1 degrees.