6.1-magnitude quake hits central Indonesia, no tsunami alert issued

Jakarta: A 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked the Central Sulawesi province in Indonesia on Saturday, but did not trigger giant waves, the country’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency said.

The quake was recorded at 21:43 local time with its epicentre at 49 km northwest of Donggala Regency and at a depth of 20 km under seabed.

The tremors of the earthquake did not have the potential to trigger a tsunami, the agency said.

However, they led residents of two villages situated in coastal areas of the regency to flee, said Muhammad Fikri, an official of data and information center of the provincial disaster management and mitigation agency, Xinhua news agency reported.

“More than 1,000 villagers have escaped from the coastal areas for fear of possible aftershocks,” he told Xinhua over phone, adding that electricity was cut off after the quake and telecommunication was disturbed.