Residents flee as Magnitude 7 earthquake strikes off Sulawesi island in Indonesia

On Wednesday, a magnitude 7 earthquake off the coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia, scared locals and forced them to flee their houses in some of the settlements closest to the epicentre.

However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in the United States cancelled an earlier tsunami risk warning in a bulletin and the Indonesian Geophysics Agency declared that there was no chance of a tsunami.
The epicentre of the earthquake, according to the geophysics department, was 64 kilometres (39.77 miles) below the surface and 141 kilometres southeast of the town of Melonguane. The department reported that it had recorded 10 aftershocks.

According to the police in North Sulawesi, there haven’t been any recent reports of casualties or property damage.

The quake was also felt in the Maluku islands, the local disaster agency added.

The Philippines seismology agency also said the quake was felt in southern areas of the country and warned of a risk of damage and aftershocks.

Indonesia rests atop the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, making it one of the most seismically active regions in the world, experiencing frequent earthquakes.