Earthquake today: 6.1 magnitude quake strikes near Indonesia's Modisi; residents say ‘It was strong'

Earthquake today: A magnitude 6.1 earthquake struck near Modisi, Indonesia, Wednesday morning local time, according to the US Geological Survey website. No damage or casualties have been reported but the quake forced residents to flee outside.

Earthquake in Kolkata Today Highlights

The quake was about 44 kilometers away from Modisi and had a depth of 10 kilometers. The country's meteorological agency gave a lower magnitude of 6.0 and said there was no potential for a tsunami.

‘It was strong’

Gita Waloni, a 25-year-old guest at a hotel in North Minahasa district in the province told AFP, “I had just woken up when I realised it was an earthquake. It was strong, swaying from side to side. Objects inside my rooms rattled. I decided to get out. I was so scared there would be an aftershock while I was inside the lift. All other guests had also fled.”

Previous severe earthquakes reported in Indonesia

In January 2021, a magnitude-6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless while in 2018, a magnitude-7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.

And in 2004, a magnitude-9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.

Earthquakes in India

An earthquake of 5.1 magnitude on the Richter scale struck Kolkata on Tuesday morning at 6:10 am. The Kolkata quake's epicentre was in the Bay of Bengal, off the coast of Puri, Odisha, at a depth of 91 km. On February 17, Delhi felt earthquake tremors early morning, when a quake of magnitude 4.0 on the Richter scale hit the national capital. Although earthquake near Kolkata was of higher intensity, people in the national capital felt stronger tremors, as the city was the epicentre.

(With inputs from agencies)