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Earthquake damage to a school on the Indonesian island of Java (archive image)
Photo: IMAGO/Algi Febri Sugita / IMAGO/ZUMA Wire
A severe earthquake in Indonesia triggered tremors over hundreds of kilometers in the evening.
The USGS gave the magnitude of the earthquake as 7.6.
The Indonesian authority BMKG estimated the strength at 7.9.
Residents in the northern Australian city of Darwin, around 600 kilometers further south, felt the effects clearly, as Australian media reported.
Some spoke on social media of the worst shocks in decades.
According to this information, the earthquake lasted two minutes.
It happened in the early hours of Tuesday (local time) - Monday evening in central Europe.
The Indonesian authorities initially issued a tsunami warning, but feared waves on the coast did not materialize according to initial reports, so the warning was withdrawn.
Nothing was initially known about victims or major damage.
Deep earthquake focus
The epicenter was about 350 kilometers northeast of East Timor in the sea.
According to the US earthquake observatory, the hearth was about 95 kilometers below the sea floor.
That's relatively deep.
The earthquakes with the greatest destruction usually happen much closer to the surface.
Indonesia is located on the so-called Fire Belt, an arc in the Pacific Ocean where tectonic plates meet.
There are numerous volcanoes.
Heavy earthquakes keep happening.
czl/dpa