Jakarta: A strong earthquake cut power lines and sent panicked residents in eastern Indonesia running out of their homes toward higher ground, authorities and witnesses said.
The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency warned that with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 it was strong enough to cause a tsunami. There were no immediate reports of giant waves and the warning was lifted within an hour.
The tremor struck at 2:43 a.m., or 1943GMT, around 85 miles (135 kilometers) off the coast of Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers).
The U.S. Geological Survey put the strength at a more powerful 7.6 magnitude and nearly three times the depth. Shallow earthquakes generally cause more damage than deeper ones.
Electricity went off and people fled their homes in the dark, fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official.
Indonesia straddles a chain of faultlines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to seismic activity. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2005 Asian tsunami that killed around 230,000 people, more than half of them in Sumatra.
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