Earthquakes topple homes, cause tsunami in Indonesia

Last Updated Sep 28, 2018 7:06 AM EDT

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- A spokesman for Indonesia's geophysics agency says a powerful Sulawesi earthquake caused a tsunami, apparently after the agency lifted a tsunami warning.  Hary Tirto Djatmiko confirmed to The Associated Press that a tsunami occurred. He said the agency was still collecting information and would release it after confirming its accuracy. 

Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting the provincial capital, Palu, with people screaming and running in fear.

It was the second quake to strike the area Friday.

"Many houses have collapsed," Akris, a local disaster agency official, told the Associated Press. "It happened while we still have difficulties in collecting data from nine villages affected by the first quake... People ran out in panic."

The area was hit earlier Friday by a magnitude 6.1 earthquake that killed one person, injured 10 and damaged dozens of houses.

The Reuters news agency reported that Indonesian officials lifted the tsunami warning after about an hour, but disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a TV news interview that people should "remain in safe areas," and avoid damaged buildings.  

A map provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the epicenter of 7.5 magnitude earthquake which struck Indonesia on Sept. 28, 2018.

USGS

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.

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.

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