JAKARTA, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Residents were evacuated as a 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia's Banten province on Friday evening.

Ferry Hasanuddin, an official of the province's Pandeglang regency, said the evacuation was immediately conducted in the regency, which was hit by a tsunami in the Sunda Strait in 2018.

"We already had the places in every district that facilitate the evacuees, should tsunami occurs again," Ferry told local media after the earthquake.

The 2018 Sunda Strait tsunami, prompted by the eruption of the Child of Krakatoa volcano in the strait, killed more than 400 in Banten and Lampung provinces, injured more than 14,000 others and damaged over 2,750 houses and buildings in the two provinces.

Pandeglang regency and several areas in Sumatra's Lampung and Bengkulu provinces were categorized in high alert status as their coasts are facing the earthquake epicenter in the Indian Ocean.

However, an official at Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) said there has been no significant movement in the sea that may lead to tsunami after the earthquake.

According to the agency, the tremor hit at 7:03 p.m. local time (1203 GMT), with the epicenter at 7.54 degrees south latitude and 104.58 degrees east longitude at a depth of 10 km.

The epicenter was located 147 km southwest of Banten's Pandeglang regency district of Sumur.

The quake, which lasted about 30 seconds, was also strongly felt in capital Jakarta. Enditem

Related

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)