A strong earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale hit North Maluku island of Ternate at 9 local time on Thursday morning, ANTARA quoted Ternate Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) spokesman Salimin as saying. He said the epicenter of the quake was located 122 km northwest of Ternate at a depth of 10 km under sea level. Soon after the earthquake, BMG issued a tsunami warning but it was lifted later after receiving report from several areas, saying that there was no indication of tsunami. "From its intensity, the quake is potential to trigger tsunami but so far we have yet to receive any report of tidal waves," Salimin said, adding that the temblor prompted the people in Ternate to rush out of their homes in panic. Salimin said that so far there was no report of casualties or material damage. Meanwhile, it was reported that the magnitude of the earthquake was also felt by the people of Gorontalo, and Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi. In the past three consecutive days, earthquakes hit several areas in Indonesia. At 7:18 on Wednesday morning, an earthquake measuring 5.2 on the Richter scale also jolted Sinabang island in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD) province. Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) reported that the epicenter of the earthquake was located at a depth of 30 kilometers under the sea level, or some 36 kilometers northwest of Sinabang and 154 kilometers northwest of Tapaktuan. The earthquake was not potential to trigger tsunami, there was no report of casualty and material damages on Sinabang island. On Tuesday, an earthquake measuring 5.6 on the Richter scale also rocked Bengkulu and its vicinity at 10:07 a.m. local time but there were no reports of casualties and material damage. It said the epicenter of the earthquake was located at 4.04 degrees southern latitude and 103.01 degrees eastern longitude at a depth of 10 kilometers below sea level. The epicenter was also located 51 kilometers northwest of Tebingtinggi in Bengkulu, 64 kilometers northwest of Lahat in South Sumtra, 65 kilometers southeast of Kepahing in Bengkulu, and 84 kilometers southeast of Curup in Bengkulu. People in Musirawas and Lubuklinggau districts in South Sumatra also felt the magnitude of the earthquake.
