A powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the Northern Molucca Sea region in Indonesia early on Thursday local time, according to the United States Geological Survey. The quake’s epicentre was located 127 kilometres west-northwest of the city of Ternate, at a depth of 35 kilometres. A tsunami alert was immediately issued for the region.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” and is among the most seismically active nations on Earth. Details on casualties and damage were still emerging at the time of reporting, but the scale of the quake — and the tsunami warning — prompted alarm across the region.