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A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of East Timor on Friday, the U.S. Geological Survey mentioned, with tremors felt so far as the Australian metropolis of Darwin, though there have been no fast stories of harm or casualties.
The USGS mentioned the quake hit at a depth of 51 kilometers off the jap tip of Timor island, which is break up between East Timor and Indonesia.
An AFP journalist within the East Timor capital, Dili, felt the earthquake and mentioned that, though it lasted solely seconds, “the jolt was fairly robust.”
“I noticed individuals dashing out of their houses and kids working exterior of the college,” the journalist mentioned.
The earthquake was extra violent across the city of Lospalos within the east of the nation, however native authorities had been nonetheless assessing the state of affairs and didn’t give a breakdown of the harm or doable casualties.
The quake was additionally felt in Darwin, Australia, which lies throughout the Timor Sea from the epicenter.
Darwin resident Joel Willingale, who works in heavy manufacturing, mentioned “it went on for about 30 seconds.”
“The entire room shook and slammed down,” he mentioned.
“We solely actually really feel the consequences of a quake often, often within the Banda Sea. However this one was an enormous one.”
The Banda Sea lies north of Timor island.
To the north in Indonesia, the earthquake triggered panic and prompted individuals to evacuate buildings within the southwest of the Moluccas archipelago, in response to the Nationwide Emergency Administration.
Authorities didn’t report any harm or casualties.
The United Nations’ tsunami monitoring company warned that the quake “may generate a tsunami affecting the Indian Ocean area.”
No nationwide authority within the area has but issued a tsunami warning, nevertheless.
“No #tsunami risk to Australia from #earthquake felt in Darwin, NT,” mentioned Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology in a tweet.
East Timor and Indonesia sit on the Pacific “Ring of Fireplace,” an arc of intense seismic exercise that stretches by means of Southeast Asia and throughout the Pacific basin.
In February, a 6.2 magnitude quake killed a dozen individuals when it struck Indonesia’s North Sumatra.
In 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake hit the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 individuals all through the area, together with about 170,000 in Indonesia.
East Timor has a inhabitants of about 1.3 million and is Southeast Asia’s youngest nation, not too long ago celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its independence from Indonesia.
The largely rural financial system has been badly hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the World Financial institution saying 42% of the inhabitants dwell beneath the poverty line.
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