Indonesia was hit by two new earthquakes off the southern coast of Indonesia’s Sumba island on Tuesday morning, AFP reported.
A 5.9-magnitude quake struck at around 5.30 am Indian time around 40 km off Sumba. This was followed by a stronger 6-magnitude quake, around 15 minutes later in the same area, according to the United States Geological Survey. There were no immediate reports of any casualties.
“We felt four shakes,” Defis Rinaldi, a worker at the Padadita Beach Hotel said. “People were panicking when the first quake happened and ran out of the hotel, about 40 of our guests. It was only a few seconds and the geophysics agency didn’t issue a warning, everything is back to normal now.”
Sumba is about 1,600 km south of Sulawesi island, where an earthquake and tsunami killed at least 844 people last week. Relief operations are still on and several people are believed to be trapped under rubble.
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