6.1 Magnitude Quake Strikes Indonesia

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activities

Jakarta: An earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale struck Indonesia’s Sulawesi island on Friday but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The US Geological Survey put the hypocentre of the tremor at a depth of 18 km and the epicentre at a point 30.5 km north of the city of Donggala, reports Efe news.

At least 557 people died and almost 400,000 were displaced by four earthquakes with intensities varying between magnitude-6.3 and 6.9 which struck Lombok island between July 29 and August 19. Indonesia’s deadliest ever tremor struck Sumatra island in 2014 and triggered a tsunami that killed nearly 280,000 people in around a dozen countries along the Indian Ocean, with the biggest number of casualties registered in Indonesia.

Last month, 387 people died after the 6.9-magnitude earthquake hit the island. A total of 67,875 houses, 468 schools, six bridges, 50 oratories, 20 offices, 15 mosques and 13 health centres were demolished or damaged.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, an area of great seismic and volcanic activities, where some 7,000 earthquakes, mostly moderate, are recorded each year.