7.1-magnitude quake hits Indonesia's Banda Sea

7.1-magnitude quake hits Indonesia’s Banda Sea

By : AFP

Date: 8 November 2023 1:32pm WAT

This handout photo taken and released on July 27, 2022 by the Mountain Province Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office shows boulders blocking a road following a landslide along Halsema Highway in the municipality of Bontoc, Mountain Province, after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit the northern Philippines. (Photo by Handout / Mountain Province Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / MOUNTAIN PROVINCE DISASTER RISK REDUCTION MANAGEMENT OFFICE" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS - RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / Mountain Province Disaster Risk Reduction Management Office" - NO MARKETING - NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS /

Afghan residents clear debris as they look for victims’ bodies in the rubble of damaged houses after the earthquakes in Kashkak village, Zendeh Jan district of Herat province on October 8, 2023. – The death toll from a series of earthquakes in western Afghanistan rose sharply again on October 8 to more than 2,000, with nearly 10,000 injured, as rescue workers dug through razed villages for vanishing signs of life. More than 1,300 homes were toppled when magnitude 6.3 quake — followed by eight strong aftershocks — jolted hard-to-reach areas 30 kilometres (19 miles) northwest of the provincial capital of Herat, according to officials. (Photo by Mohsen KARIMI / AFP)

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Banda Sea on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
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No tsunami warning was issued for the quake — initially reported as a magnitude 6.9 — which hit at 11:53 am local time (0453 GMT), according to the USGS.

The tremor was felt moderately in the town of Saumlaki in the archipelago’s Tanimbar Islands, according to the Indonesian Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency, or BMKG.

“The earthquake was quite intense. But the people here were not panicking. We are used to having earthquakes,” Saumlaki resident Lambert Tatang told AFP.

“Especially after we learned that there was no tsunami threat, so life is just normal now,” the 41-year-old said.
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Indonesia experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

In November last year, a 5.6-magnitude quake hit the populous West Java province on the country’s main island of Java, killing 602 people.

In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake struck the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.
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