6.8 magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia; no tsunami alert

Agence France-Presse

Posted at May 06 2020 11:49 PM

6.8 magnitude quake strikes off Indonesia; no tsunami alert 1
USGS image

A 6.8 magnitude earthquake jolted a remote part of eastern Indonesia late Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning issued and no immediate reports of damage. 

The undersea quake struck at a depth of some 107 kilometers (66 miles) in the sea between Indonesia's Maluku and East Timor at 22:50 local time (13:50 GMT).

The epicenter was about 390 kilometers south of the city of Ambon in the archipelago's Maluku province.

An AFP journalist in Dili, East Timor, roughly 400 kilometers away, reported feeling a slight tremor. 

Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on Earth. In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi island left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.