M-5.6 Tectonic Earthquake Hits Indonesia's North Maluku Sea

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - A tectonic earthquake shook the region of the north coast of Batang Dua Island in Ternate, North Maluku, Indonesia at 06:39 this morning. According to the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), the earthquake had updated parameters with a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale.

"The epicenter of the earthquake was located at coordinates 1.30° north latitude; 126.11° east longitude, or more precisely in the sea at a distance of 110 km southeast of Bitung, North Sulawesi at a depth of 12 kilometers," BMKG's head of the earthquake and tsunami center, Daryono, said in a written statement on Wednesday, July 17, 2024.

Based on BMKG data, the earthquake was strong enough to be felt as far away as Manado, Minahasa, North Minahasa, South Bolaang Mongondow, Bitung, Tomohon, Ternate, Sitaro, East Bolaang Mongondow with an intensity scale of III MMI.

"The modeling results show that this earthquake has no tsunami potential," he said.

According to Daryono, based on the location of the epicenter and the depth of the hypocenter, the earthquake that occurred was a shallow type earthquake due to shallow rock deformation activity on the Maluku Sea Plate.

"The results of the source mechanism analysis show that the earthquake had an upward motion mechanism or thrust fault," Daryono said.

As of 07:10 Jakarta time, Daryono said that the BMKG monitoring results had not detected any aftershock activity.

TEMPO.CO

Editor's Choice: 7.0 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Indonesia's Sangihe Islands in North Sulawesi

Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News