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Indonesia rocked by 7.5 magnitude quake, tsunami warning called off

Indonesia rocked by 7.5 magnitude quake, tsunami warning called off

Indonesia earthquake

Indonesia on Friday was struck by a very strong 7.5 magnitude earthquake, news agency AFP reported citing US Geological Survey.

Following the strong quake, country's national disaster agency had briefly issued a tsunami warning before cancelling it.

The quake hit central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres (six miles), just hours after a smaller quake killed at least one person in the same part of the country.

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The USGeological Survey put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7.

The earlier quake destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10, authorities said.

Indonesia's disaster agency issued a tsunami warning for the west coast of Sulawesi and east coast of Indonesia's part of Borneo island.

People livingin the shore areas have also been advised to move away from the coastline; news agency Reuters reported.

A series of earthquakes in July and August killed nearly 500 people on the holiday island of Lombok, hundreds of kilometres southwest of Sulawesi.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and is regularly hit by earthquakes.

In 2004, a big earthquake off the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra triggered a tsunami across the Indian Ocean, killing 226,000 people in 13 countries, including more than 120,000 in Indonesia.

(With inputs from news agencies)