Eartquake triggers panic but little damage in Indonesia’s Sulawesi

A portion of a damaged structure in Indonesia caused by a 7.3 magnitude quake that struck Saturday, Nov. 15. (Photo grabbed from Reuters/Metro TV video)
A portion of a damaged structure in Indonesia caused by a 7.3 magnitude quake that struck Saturday, Nov. 15. (Photo grabbed from Reuters/Metro TV video)

(Reuters) A magnitude 7.3 earthquake on Saturday (November 15) sent people scurrying in panic in Indonesia, but caused little damage.

A tsunami warning was issued after the tremour hit off Moluccas in Indonesia but was later lifted.

In northern Sulawesi’s Gorontalo city, college students ran out of their university building after feeling the strong jolt which was measured at a depth of 47 km (34 miles), with epicenter 134 km (83 miles) northwest of Ternate, an island in eastern Indonesia‘s Moluccas.

Another earthquake measuring 6.2 was recorded soon after off the coast if Sulawesi, the USGS said.

Guests and staff at a hotel in Manado were evacuated after part of the wall of the hotel building crumbled. Police cordoned off part of the area which was not safe. Electricity was cut in some parts of the capital of North Sulawesi province, local media said.

Indonesia is located inside the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire” a seismically active zone where different plates of earth’s crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes activity.