JAKARTA (AFP) – A shallow 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit near the Indonesian island of Sulawesi on Saturday, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said, with no damage or casualties immediately reported.
The tremor hit at 9.43pm local time at a depth of 9.9 kilometres, according to the USGS.
Indonesia’s geophysics agency (BMKG) reported no immediate tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks. It initially reported a magnitude of 6.3.
“I was having a good sleep (when the earthquake jolted). I jumped out of bed immediately,” said Qamariah, a 41-year-old housewife in Central Sulawesi’s Malei village.
“It felt like being shaken as if rice was being sifted. It went up and then down. It was really strong because I lived close to the epicentre,” she told AFP.
She said the power was out in her area so she could not see if there was damage.
Video obtained by AFP showed panicking people in Central Sulawesi’s Lambonga village gathered in groups outside of their homes as they sought safety in fear of aftershocks.
