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A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Friday, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS), with no immediate reports of damage or casualties.
The tremor occurred at a depth of 120 kilometres, roughly 58 kilometres west of Tobelo in the North Maluku province, at 11:31 local time (02:31 GMT).
“I was sitting and having coffee at a roadside stall when suddenly my chair started rocking. I panicked for a moment because I’m still traumatised by past earthquakes,” Umar Abbas, a resident of Ternate, located around 114 kilometres from the epicentre, told the AFP news agency.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) stated that the quake posed no tsunami threat.
Indonesia and neighbouring nations experience frequent seismic activity due to their position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, an arc of intense volcanic and tectonic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.