Earthquake off North Sulawesi topples buildings, kills one person and sets off small tsunami

Onlookers gather as police officers inspect a damaged building following an earthquake in Manado, North Sulawesi, yesterday [AP Photo]

An undersea magnitude 7.4 earthquake toppled buildings in parts of northern Indonesia, sent people fleeing from their homes, killed at least one person and generated a small tsunami yesterday.

Strong shaking lasting 10 to 20 seconds was felt in Bitung in North Sulawesi province as well as in Ternate city in neighboring North Maluku province, according to the Disaster Management Agency. The provinces border the Molucca Sea, where the quake was centered.

Initial assessments showed light to severe damage in parts of Ternate, including a church and two houses. In Bitung, damage assessments were still underway, the agency said.

“We had just woken up and suddenly the earthquake hit… we all ran out of the house,” Bitung resident Marten Mandagi said. “The shaking was very strong,”

Indonesia’s Search and Rescue Agency reported a 70-year-old woman died in a building collapse in North Sulawesi’s Manado city and another resident was injured. At least three injured people were hospitalized in Ternate.

Videos released by the rescue agency showed damaged structures and flattened houses, while television stations broadcast scenes of people rushing outside and gathering in streets to avoid the risk of collapsing buildings.

Dozens of aftershocks followed, including one of 6.2 magnitude. Authorities are continuing to gather information on damage and possible victims from multiple areas, particularly remote villages, as they work to assess the scope of the disaster.

Tsunami waves up to 75 centimeters (30 inches) above normal tides were recorded at several monitoring stations around the Molucca Sea coast. Indonesia’s meteorological agency lifted its tsunami warning hours after the quake, and the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said there was no destructive threat to the country, which is north of the quake’s epicenter.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 280 million people, sits on major seismic faults and is frequently hit by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. MDT/AP