Brief Tsunami alerts after Indonesia jolted by a 6.4 magnitude earthquake

The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System initially triggered an alert. But it later issued another bulletin stating that there was no threat to the countries in the Indian Ocean.

Indonesian women and children displaced by an earthquake rest under a tent in Pidie Jaya, Aceh province, on December 9, 2016. The shallow 6.5-magnitude quake levelled hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses across Aceh province, one of the areas worst affected by the destructive 2004 tsunami. GATHA GINTING / AFP

New Delhi: An earthquake of magnitude 6.4 rattled Eastern Indonesia in the early Monday morning, which triggered a brief tsunami alert. According to the reports of seismic monitoring organisations, an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale hit off the eastern Indonesia which also propelled a tsunami alert briefly, which was quickly lifted off. The epicenter of the quake was reportedly 171 kilometers below the surface in the Banda sea, located in a sparsely inhabited part of it, 222 kilometres northwest from Indonesia's Tanimbar Islands and 380 kilometres from Ambon, the capital of Maluku province. The Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation System initially triggered an alert. But it later issued another bulletin stating that there was no threat to the countries in the Indian Ocean. A similar earthquake of 6.1 magnitude near to this very epicenter had struck on February 26. Indonesia’s geographical location puts it at risk of quakes as it sits on the ‘Pacific Ring of Fire’, a seismic activity hotspot. It was in the year 2004 when the most devastating Tsunami in history had been triggered by a quake of 9.3 magnitude, which killed 220,000 people, including 168,000 from Indonesia alone.