People living in Ternate and environs strongly felt the quake, with many of them rushing outdoors for fear that their houses would collapse.Ternate, N Maluku (ANTARA News) - A 5.9-magnitude undersea earthquake rocked the North Maluku provincial capital of Ternate on Tuesday evening but there was no immediate report of casualties or material damage, according to the local geophysics station.
The epicenter of the quake which struck at 03.18 p.m. local time on Tuesday was located 114 km southwest of Ternate at a depth of 13 km, head of the Ternate geophysics station Ario Fauzi said.
The quake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, he said.
Therefore, he added people living in Ternate and its environs should remain calm and should not be easily influenced by an unconfirmed report that the quake would trigger a tsunami.
"The quake that has just rocked Ternate had a magnitude of less than 6 on the Richter scale so it did not have the potential to cause a tsunami," he said.
People living in Ternate and environs strongly felt the quake, with many of them rushing outdoors for fear that their houses would collapse.
Head of the Ternate Natural Disaster Mitigation Office Hasim Yusuf said his office had received no report of casualties or material damage.
He said the office kept monitoring all sub-districts in Ternate in the wake of the quake.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.
North Maluku lies at the meeting point of the country`s two main chains of volcanoes. (*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2012
