A strong 6.3-magnitude earthquake hit eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, US seismologists said, with reports of minor property damage but no casualties to this point.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 14 km under the Alor Sea at around 10:44 a.m. local time, about 77 km from East Timor’s capital, Dili, the US Geological Survey said.
A disaster agency official in Alor, the distant island chain closest to the epicenter, said the quake was strongly felt within the district for nearly two minutes.
“We heard that at least one building had collapsed,” said Marthen Daud Ndaumanu Kalabahi.
“We are still trying to succeed in distant areas where there isn’t any (telephone) connection to see if there’s any damage or casualties.”
A spokesman for Indonesia’s national disaster agency, Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, said the quake didn’t trigger a tsunami but forced people to flee Alor.
“Some people panicked and scattered,” he said in a text message, but added that he had not heard any reports of casualties or property damage to this point.
Indonesia is situated within the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, where tectonic plates collide, causing frequent seismic and volcanic activity.
