Indonesia earthquake: Tsunami warnings for Sumatra and Australian islands after powerful 7.9 magnitude off coast - live updates
There were no immediate reports of casualties or severe damage
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Your support makes all the difference.A powerful 7.9 magnitude has struck off the west coast of the Indonesian island of Sumatra, triggering a tsunami warning. Here are the latest updates
- The epicentre was 502 miles southwest of Padang and six miles deep - USGS
- Indonesia issued a tsunami warning for West Sumatra, North Sumatra and Aceh
- A tsunami warning for mainland Australia was issued but later cancelled, although an alert for Cocos Islands and Christmas Island remained
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There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties but the shallower a quake, the more likely it is to cause damage. USGS originally put the magnitude at 8.2, and then 8.1, before lowering it to 7.9.
Indonesia, badly hit by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, straddles the so-called “Pacific Ring of Fire”, a highly seismically active zone where different plates on the earth's crust meet and create a large number of earthquakes and volcanoes.
Additional reporting by AP
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