Indonesia Lifts Tsunami Alert After Sulawesi Quake

The quake at a shallow depth of about 10 km (6.2 miles) was felt strongly in the Talaud Islands and was followed by several aftershocks.

Indonesia lifted a tsunami warning after a powerful earthquake struck near the Talaud Islands north of Sulawesi island, the meteorology agency said on Thursday.

The quake at a shallow depth of about 10 km (6.2 miles) was felt strongly in the Talaud Islands and was followed by several aftershocks, an official at the agency said.

The U.S. Geographical Survey initially put the quake at a magnitude of 7.5 magnitude, although later lowered its estimate to 7.0.

A reporter for Indonesia's state radio station in the town of Tahuna said frightened people had rushed out of their homes after the strong quake on the islands bordering the Celebes Sea.

The U.S. agency said the epicentre of the quake was in the Talaud Islands, 323.5 km (201 miles) south-southeast of General Santos, on the Philippine island of Mindanao. It put the quake at a depth of 33 km (20 miles).

The U.S. Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said no destructive widespread tsunami threat existed. But the agency added that earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis that could be destructive along coasts located within 100 km of the quake epicentre.

It said Japan's meteorological agency might issue tsunami messages for countries in the northwest Pacific and South China Sea, and if the information was conflicting, the more conservative information should be used for safety.

The Indonesian archipelago suffers frequent earthquakes, lying in an area of intense seismic activity where several tectonic plates collide.

A huge Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 killed about 230,000 people across Asia, many of them in Indonesia.

Afflicted areas are still struggling to recover and Indonesia's government has taken measures to improve readiness for such disasters.