A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Indonesia’s eastern Papua province Thursday, damaging dozens of homes and buildings, but causing no reported casualties, officials said.
The tremor hit at 2:48 pm (0548 GMT), with its epicentre located about 200 kilometres (125 miles) from the city of Jayapura at a depth of 35 kilometres, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said there was no threat of a tsunami from the quake.
Residents in Sarmi regency rushed outdoors as the quake shook the area for around three seconds, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB) spokesman Abdul Muhari said in a statement.
“As of 2:30 pm Western Indonesia Time, material losses that were recorded include 20 houses heavily damaged, 30 houses lightly damaged, and three churches with collapsed walls,” he said.
No fatalities or injuries had been reported by Thursday afternoon, he added.
A team from Jakarta was set to be dispatched to assist local authorities with rapid assessments and data collection, Abdul said.
Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) official 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.
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