A powerful earthquake rocked parts of Sulawesi in eastern Indonesia today, causing panic among residents, officials and media reports said. There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 and was centred beneath the Flores Sea, about 40 miles west of the town of Bau Bau in south-east Sulawesi, said Budi Sulistiono, an official of the local meteorological agency. It struck at 8:04 a.m. local time, he said. Mr Sulistiono said the depth of the quake was about 23 miles under the Flores Sea.
The US Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude 6.5 and was not related to the massive magnitude-9.0 quake that hit western Indonesia on December 26, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 169,000 people across southern Asian and eastern Africa.
Mr Rahmat Triono, an official of the Geophysics and Meteorological Agency in Jakarta, said any undersea quake had the potential to trigger a tsunami, but there had been no indication of one in Sulawesi today.
In Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi province, local resident Mr Yuli Mochtar said the quake caused hundreds of people to run out into the streets.
"We felt the quake and we just ran out of the house in panic," Mr Mochtar said.
"But we have not seen any damage yet." Residents of Bau Bau said there were no reports of any casualties or damage.
AP