Magnitude 6.5 earthquake hits Indonesia’s Papua province, no tsunami threat

The epicentre of the quake was about 200km from the city of Jayapura, at a depth of 35km kilometres, the USGS said.

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian province of Papua today, the US Geological Survey said.

There was no tsunami warning and no immediate reports of damage.

The epicentre of the quake, which struck at around 2.48pm local time, was about 200km from the city of Jayapura, at a depth of 35km, the USGS said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said there was no threat of a tsunami from the quake.

Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) recorded the quake with a magnitude of 6.4 at a depth of 16km.

The agency’s earthquake and tsunami director Daryono, who goes by one name, said in a statement no aftershocks had yet been recorded.

Indonesia, a vast archipelagic nation, experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific “Ring of Fire”.

The arc of intense seismic activity, where tectonic plates collide, stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Indonesia’s Papua is on the western half of the large Pacific island it shares with Papua New Guinea.

-Agence France-Presse