Powerful 7.4 quake jolts Indonesia; tsunami warning issued for coastal regions

JAKARTA: A powerful 7.4-magnitude offshore earthquake struck eastern Indonesia early Thursday, the United States Geological Survey said, prompting a warning from a US monitoring agency about the possibility of “hazardous tsunami waves” within a 1,000-kilometre radius of the epicentre.

According to the USGS, the earthquake’s epicentre was located at 1.20 degrees north latitude and 126.35 degrees east longitude.

The quake occurred at a depth of around 30 kilometres, as reported by the China Earthquake Networks Center.

The tremor, which was initially recorded at a magnitude of 7.8, struck at approximately 6:48 a.m. local time in the Molucca Sea, the USGS added.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issued an alert stating that hazardous tsunami waves were possible “within 1,000 km of the epicentre,” particularly along coastal areas of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia.