Yesterday, there was an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 in Indonesia’s Banda Sea, and two quakes of similar strength in the Pacific Ocean. As of 9 am today, no damage has been reported. These are the strongest earthquakes since Monday.
The Indonesian earthquake was in the sparse island group of Maluku, north of Australia, at 2016 UTC Thursday (5.46 am Friday, Darwin time). The Maluku Islands are in the earthquake prone Banda Sea between New Guinea and Sulawesi. The Indonesian quake was felt in Darwin, northern Australia, 600 km (400 miles) south of the epicenter.
The earlier Pacific quakes were at 1340 UTC (in Papua New Guinea, close to the populous island of New Britain, magnitude 6.0) and 1708 UTC (110 km from the remote Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia, magnitude 6.3.)
As recently as January 5, a magnitude 7.7 earthquake on the island of New Guinea (eastern Indonesia) killed one person and caused many serious injuries. Indonesia began to operate a tsunami early warning system in November, and no warnings were issued following yesterday’s earthquakes.
- Strong earthquakes in Indian and Pacific Oceans
- Quake shakes Top End. Did you feel it?
- Magnitude 6.2 – KEPULAUAN BARAT DAYA, INDONESIA 2009 January 22 20:16:34 UTC
- Magnitude 6.3 – SOUTHEAST OF THE LOYALTY ISLANDS 2009 January 21 17:08:42 UTC
- Magnitude 6.0 – NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA 2009 January 22 13:40:26 UTC
