JAKARTA, May 5 — A 5.9-magnitude earthquake struck waters off West Sumba in eastern Indonesia on Tuesday afternoon, with tremors felt across parts of East and West Nusa Tenggara as well as Bali.
Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency acting director of earthquakes and tsunami Rahmat Triyono said the quake occurred at 1.44 pm local time and was centred at sea about 49km southwest of Wanokaka in West Sumba Regency in East Nusa Tenggara, at a depth of 26km.
“Based on the location of the epicentre and the depth of the hypocentre, the earthquake is a shallow earthquake,” he said in a statement today.
The quake was felt at moderate intensity in several areas of Sumba, including Waingapu, Tambolaka, Waibakul and Waikabubak, registering level IV on the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) scale, indicating it was widely felt indoors during the day.
Rahmat added that weaker tremors were also reported in parts of West Nusa Tenggara, including Bima and Sumbawa, where shaking reached MMI Level Three.
Level Three indicates a tremor typically felt clearly indoors, similar to the vibration of a passing truck. A Level Two MMI was also reported in Denpasar, Bali.
He said no potential tsunami risk was detected. As of 2.10pm local time, monitoring had not detected any aftershocks.
