Indonesian island of Sumba hit by 5.9-magnitude quake: US Geological Survey

The Indonesian island of Sumba was hit by an earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale on Tuesday morning, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) said. This quake comes days after a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake and tsunami tore through the country’s Sulawesi island leaving more than 800 people dead.

The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10 kilometre around 40 kilometre off Sumba, an island of some 750,000 people. Sumba lies some 1,600 kilometres to the south of Sulawesi island.

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Indonesia is prone to earthquakes because of its location on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin. An earthquake of magnitude 6 is classed as strong, which means it can cause extensive damage to buildings and residential areas. In December 2004, a massive magnitude 9.1 earthquake off Sumatra in western Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.'

(With PTI inputs)