Hundreds of people take refuge due to earthquake in N Sulawesi

Manado, North Sulawesi (ANTARA News) - Hundreds of people living in coastal areas in Talaud District fled their homes to find higher ground in fear of a possible tsunami following a 7.4-magnitude earthquake that hit the region early Thursday morning.

 

But the temblor which occurred at 1.34 am local time was not followed by public tsunami alarms so that the panic-stricken residents went back to their homes later in the morning, Tonny Lamagari, a local resident, said here on Thursday.

 

The powerful quake damaged several houses and at least five persons were reported injured, he said.

 

The quake`s epicenter was located at 3.85 degrees northern latitude and 126.67 degrees eastern longitude, around 112 km southeast of Melonguane, Talaud District, at a depth of 10 km below sea level.

 

The temblor was felt at the IV-V MMI (Modified Mercalli Intensity) by Talaud residents.

 

Meanwhile, an officer at Manado`s meteorological, geophysics and climaltlogical agency, Mudjianto, said the agency had initially issued a warning that the earthquake had the potential to trigger a tsunami. But the alert was later withdrawn as there were no signs of a rise in the sea level.

 

Tens of aftershocks with magnitudes ranging between 5 and 5.7 on the Richter scale continued to jolt Talaud later in the day.