7.4-magnitude quake off Indonesia triggers tsunami warning, waves

JAKARTA, Indonesia — A severe 7.4-magnitude offshore quake struck in eastern Indonesia on Thursday, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said, triggering a tsunami warning and up to 30-centimeter-high waves. The quake hit at a depth of 35 kilometers in the Molucca Sea between the Sulawesi and Maluku island groups in the early morning, the USGS said. The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) said hazardous tsunami waves were possible within 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) of the epicenter along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Waves of 30 centimeters were recorded within 30 minutes of the quake in North Maluku province north of the island of Ternate, Indonesia's BMKG geological agency said in a statement. Twenty-centimeter waves were logged in Bitung in northeastern Sulawesi. Ternate resident Budi Nurgianto, 42, said he was inside his house when the tremor struck, sending people panicking outside. "The quake was felt strongly. I heard it first from the walls of the house that shook," he said. "When I went outside, there were many people outside. They were panicked. The quake was felt (for) quite long, more than a minute. "I even saw some people leaving their house without having finished their shower." An AFP journalist in Manado on Sulawesi, about 300 kilometers west of Ternate by sea, said the shaking woke him and others in the city of around 450,000 people. "I immediately woke up and left my house. People (were) immediately scrambling outside. There is a school and the pupils rushed outside," he said. The shaking persisted for "quite long" but he did not witness "significant damage", he added. The PTWC said tsunami waves "reaching 0.3 to 1 meters above the tide level" were possible for some coasts of Indonesia. Smaller waves could also reach Guam, Japan, Malaysia, Palau, the Philippines and...