Strong earthquake has shaken the Timor region of Indonesia

An earthquake of magnitude 61 struck Indonesias Timor island on Thursday causing panic and light damages to several buildings and houses but there no immediate reports of casualtiesThe US Geological Survey reported the quake had a depth of 361 kilometers 224 miles and its epicenter was located 21 kilometers 13 miles northnortheast of Kupang the capital city of East Nusa Tenggara provinceDaryono who heads the Earthquake and Tsunami Center at Indonesias Meteorology Climatology and Geophysical Agency said the landbased quake was causing panic as it was strongly felt in several cities and villagesThe agency measured a preliminary magnitude of 66 for the quake and then revised it to 63 Variations in early measurements of quakes are common The USGS reported that the quake had a magnitude of 61The quake has caused light damages in several buildings and houses wrote Daryono who goes by a single name on the social media platform X formerly known as Twitter adding there was no danger of a tsunamiVideo circulating on social media showed residents in Kupang panicking as houses and buildings swayed just after dawn Some witnesses said ceilings at the governors and mayors offices were damagedIndonesia is a seismically active archipelago of 270 million people that is frequently struck by earthquakes volcanic eruptions and tsunamis because of its location on the arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin known as the Ring of FireA magnitude 56 earthquake last year killed at least 602 people in West Javas Cianjur city It was the deadliest in Indonesia since a 2018 quake and tsunami in Sulawesi killed more than 4300 peopleIn 2004 an extremely powerful Indian Ocean quake set off a tsunami that killed more than 230000 people in a dozen countries most of them in Indonesias Aceh provinceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever