Powerful earthquake leaves two dead in Indonesia

World Monday 15/July/2019 15:32 PM
By: Times News Service
Powerful earthquake leaves two dead in Indonesia

Jakarta: A powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia's North Maluku province killed two people and damaged dozens of homes, an official from the country's national disaster agency said on Monday.

State media reported that 1,104 people had been displaced by the quake.

While authorities stated that there was no tsunami risk from the quake, many people still fled to higher ground.

TV footage showed people screaming while running out of a shopping mall on the island of Ternate.

According to state media, the earthquake hit North Maluku on Sunday at 6:28 pm local time, forcing inhabitants to rush out of their homes in panic.

The quake's epicentre was located at 0.59-degree southern latitude and 128.06-degree eastern longitude, some 62 kilometres northeast of Labuha, North Maluku. The quake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres below sea level, according to the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG).