Strong earthquake shakes eastern Indonesia; no casualties

JAKARTA, Indonesia – A strong earthquake shook the Gulf of Tomini on the eastern side of Indonesia on Tuesday, but no serious damage or injuries were reported and no tsunami warning was issued.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude 5.9 earthquake occurred 102 kilometres (63 miles) under the sea. It was centred in South Bolaang Mongondow in North Sulawesi province, 97 kilometres (60 miles) east-southeast of Gorontalo, USGS said. It also was felt in North Sulawesi, South Sulawesi and Central Sulawesi.

“The quake shook for at least 15 seconds. People were running out from their houses,” South Bolaang Mongondow Disaster Mitigation Agency official Mahyudin Binol said.

No tsunami warning was issued for the relatively deep quake.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 260 million people, is frequently struck by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.