Earthquake of 6.2-magnitude jolts Indonesia’s Sulawesi island: Report

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage.

The strong quake hit offshore at a depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), about 100 kilometres west of the town of Luwuk.

Tremors were felt in Palu on Sulawesi, some 200 kilometres from the epicentre, an AFP journalist in the city said.

But Indonesian seismologists said it would not generate a tsunami.

Indonesia experiences frequent quakes 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.

In January, more than 100 people were killed and thousands left homeless by a 6.2-magnitude quake that struck Sulawesi, reducing buildings to a tangled mass of twisted metal and chunks of concrete in the seaside city of Mamuju.

In 2018, a 7.5-magnitude quake and a subsequent tsunami in Palu left more than 4,300 people dead or missing.