Magnitude 6.1 offshore quake hits near Indonesian island – USGS

This photo taken on July 5, 2024 shows a general view of stilt houses at the village of the Bajau sea nomads in Pulau Papan in Sulawesi. FILE PHOTO/Agence France-Presse

JAKARTA — A shallow 6.1-magnitude earthquake hit near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Wednesday, the United States Geological Survey said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported.

The tremor hit at 6:55 am local time (2255 GMT) at a depth of 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) with the epicenter offshore near North Sulawesi province, according to the USGS.

The country’s meteorological agency gave a lower magnitude of 6.0 and said there was no potential for a tsunami.

READ: Magnitude 6.1 earthquake hits off Indonesia’s East Nusa Tenggara

The vast archipelago nation experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

A magnitude-6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.

In 2018, a magnitude-7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.

READ: Strong quake in Indonesia’s Sulawesi kills at least seven, injures hundreds

And in 2004, a magnitude-9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.