Earthquake 7.4 magnitude / Buildings collapse, 1 dead and tsunami

A 7.4-magnitude undersea earthquake on the Richter scale toppled buildings in several parts of northern Indonesia, forced people to flee their homes, killed at least one person, and triggered a small tsunami on Thursday.

A strong tremor lasting 10 to 20 seconds was felt in Bitung in North Sulawesi province, as well as in the city of Ternate in the neighboring North Maluku province, according to the Disaster Management Agency. The provinces border the Molucca Sea, where the earthquake’s epicenter was located.

Initial assessments showed light to heavy damage in several parts of Ternate, including a church and two houses. In Bitung, damage assessments are still ongoing, the agency said.

“We had just woken up and suddenly the earthquake struck... we all ran out of the house. The shaking was very strong,” said Bitung resident Marten Mandagi.

Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency reported that a 70-year-old woman died after a building collapsed in the city of Manado in North Sulawesi, and another resident was injured. At least three injured people were hospitalized in Ternate.

The main quake was followed by dozens of aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 6.2. Authorities are continuing to gather information on damage and possible casualties from multiple areas, especially remote villages, as they work to assess the scale of the disaster.

Tsunami waves up to 75 centimeters above normal tide levels were recorded at several monitoring stations along the Molucca Sea coast. Indonesia’s meteorological agency lifted the tsunami warning a few hours after the quake, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said there was no destructive threat to the country.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago with more than 280 million people, lies along major seismic fault lines and is frequently struck by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.

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