Earthquake Rattles East Timor
posted 3:28 am Wed January 30, 2008 - DILI, East Timor
A strong earthquake rattled East Timor on Wednesday, and an Indonesian monitoring agency said it had the potential to trigger a tsunami - but there were no immediate reports of large waves.
The earthquake had a magnitude of 6.2, the U.S. Geological Survey said.
Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics agency said the quake was powerful enough to generate a tsunami.
The tremor struck about 160 miles northeast of the capital, Dili, in Indonesia's Banda Sea, the agency said. It had a depth of 6 miles. Residents in the capital did not feel any shaking.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that became Asia's youngest country after breaking from Indonesia in 1999, sits along a series of faultlines and volcanos known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.
In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
The tremor struck about 160 miles northeast of the capital, Dili, in Indonesia's Banda Sea, the agency said. It had a depth of 6 miles. Residents in the capital did not feel any shaking.
East Timor, a former Portuguese colony that became Asia's youngest country after breaking from Indonesia in 1999, sits along a series of faultlines and volcanos known as the Pacific Ring of Fire.In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
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