(Reuters) – Indonesia issued a tsunami warning for nearly three hours after a strong 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Tanimbar Islands on Tuesday, but no significant changes in sea level were recorded and the warning lifted.
Officials said at least four aftershocks were reported after the quake, which was also felt by residents in some parts of northern Australia. Initial reports from Indonesia’s disaster agency indicate light to moderate damage to buildings.
The country’s geophysics agency said the quake, with a local magnitude of 7.5, occurred at a depth of 130 kilometers at 2:47 am local time (1747 GMT Monday). The tsunami warning was lifted at 5:43 am
BMKG Chairman Dwikorita Karnawati said at a press conference, advising people living near the coast to continue with activities.
The European-Mediterranean Seismological Center (EMSC) recorded the earthquake’s magnitude as 7.6, after initially reporting it as 7.7. The USGS also pegged it at a magnitude of 7.6.
BMKG said there were four aftershocks, the strongest of which was a magnitude of 5.5.
Indonesian disaster agency officials are still investigating the full extent of the quake’s impact.
The news website Liputan6.com reported that houses in the town of Somlaki on Yamdina Island were badly damaged.
Additional reporting by Ananda Theresia and Gayatri Suroyo in Jakarta and Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Mahler and Ed Davies
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