JAKARTA, Indonesia: A strong, shallow earthquake rocked Indonesia’s central Sulawesi province Monday evening, injuring at least three people and damaging some buildings and houses, but producing no tsunami warning.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the magnitude-6.8 quake was centered in a thinly populated area 79 kilometers (49 miles) southeast of the provincial capital, Palu, at a depth of 9.1 kilometers (6 miles).
Imam Faturrachman, a scientist with Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency, said the land-based quake did not have the potential to cause a tsunami.
The National Disaster Mitigation Agency posted photos of damage on Twitter from Poso, a city to the southeast of the epicenter. One showed a collapsed building and another showed a convenience store with goods strewn on its floor but otherwise intact. It said it had no reports of casualties.
Some other buildings were either damaged or cracked in Poso, the Agency said. It added that a number of houses and churches were damaged in nearby villages, where at least three people were hospitalized for head wounds.
El Shinta radio reported that residents ran from their homes in panic.
The Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency recorded 14 aftershocks of up to magnitude-5.2, also at a shallow depth. Shallow earthquakes tend to cause more damage on the Earth’s surface.
Indonesia is prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions due to its location along the Pacific “Ring of Fire.” A powerful Indian Ocean quake and tsunami in 2004 killed a total of 230,000 people in a dozen countries, most of them in Indonesia. -- AP