Indonesia was struck by a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake Friday, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. The country's national disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before cancelling it. The strong 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. The latest quake was a higher magnitude than those that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year. Friday's tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of the city of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt some 900 kilometres south in the island's largest city Makassar. Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, around 175 kilometres south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday.<doc-sep>Indonesia: 7.7 magnitude earthquake STRIKES Palu top stories direct to your inbox SUBSCRIBE Invalid email Sign up to receive our rundown of the day'sdirect to your inbox When you subscribe we will use the information you provide to send you these newsletters. Sometimes they'll include recommendations for other related newsletters or services we offer. Our Privacy Notice explains more about how we use your data, and your rights. You can unsubscribe at any time. Waves of up to two metres (6.5ft) smashed into the city of Palu after the major quake struck offshore on Friday, collapsing buildings and washing a ship ashore. Authorities issued a tsunami warning following the powerful 7.5 magnitude quake but lifted the alert before the waves hit. Officials say there have been some deaths but the exact number of casualties is not yet known. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said: “The earthquake and tsunami caused several casualties… while initial reports show that victims died in the rubble of a collapsing building. ”The number of casualties and the full impact is still being calculated." Engineers are scrambling to repair 276 electricity base stations which were knocked out. Officials said aftershocks, the communications breakdown and the power outage made it hard to coordinate rescue efforts. Nugroh said the tsunami swept away homes and entire families are reported missing. In a live TV interview, he said search and rescue efforts are being hindered by the darkness and communications problems caused by the earthquake and tsunami. INDONESIA TSUNAMI VIDEO: WATCH TERRIFYING FOOTAGE HERE Dwikorita Karnawati, who heads Indonesia's meteorology and geophysics agency, BMKG, said: "The 1.5- to two-metre tsunami has receded. "It ended. The situation is chaotic, people are running on the streets and buildings collapsed. There is a ship washed ashore." BMKG issued a tsunami warning after the earthquake hit but the alert was lifted within an hour. Authorities have asked people in the affected area to remain on the alert as a number of moderate aftershocks hit. Shocking footage shown by local TV stations showed huge waters crashing into houses along Palu's shoreline. Indonesia earthquake: A 6.1 magnitude tremor has struck Palu The powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake struck just off the island of Sulawesi The quake hit just after 11am BST (6pm local time) as dusk fell. Communications were down and the airport closed, hampering rescue efforts and making it impossible to assess the damage to life and property, officials said. The national search and rescue agency will deploy a large ship and helicopters to aid with the operation, said agency chief Muhammad Syaugi. However he said he had not been able to contact his team in Palu. Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said in a TV interview, said: "We advise people to remain in safe area, stay away from damaged buildings." He said the national agency in Jakarta was having difficulties reaching some authorities in the area. Indonesia tsunami: Moment HUGE wave crashes into building Footage shared online showed the moment the tsunami smashed into buildings in Palu Data from the US Geological Survey (USGS) put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first recording it as 7.7. The earlier quake destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10, authorities said. Mr Nugroho said: "The second quake was felt very strongly, we expects more damage and more victims." The tsunami warning was lifted within the hour. The massive earthquake measuring 7.7 magnitude hit Indonesia today after a 6.1 tremor overnight. Indonesia earthquake: The tremors hit near the city of Palu We advise people to remain in safe area, stay away from damaged buildings Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, spokesman for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency The first magnitude 6.1 tremor hit 55km north west of Palu, Central Sulawesi at 3.01pm (local time), striking at a depth of 18.1km, according to data from the US Geological Survey (USGS). This was followed by a 5.4 magnitude quake, which struck 77km north east of Palu, just minutes later at 3.03pm (local time). At 3.29pm (local time) a 4.9 magnitude tremor hit 57km north of Palu. Tremors were felt as far as Bali. The series of earthquakes all landed in the Ring of Fire, so-called because a huge number of earthquakes and volcanic eruptions take place there. Indonesia earthquake: Shocking images show a collapse a collapsed shopping mall Earlier on Friday, the BNPB said it was having difficulty reaching some authorities in Palu and the fishing town of Donggala, closest to the epicentre of the quake 80 km (50 miles) away at a shallow 10 km underground. Palu airport was closed. The area was hit by a lighter quake earlier in the day, which destroyed some houses, killing one person and injuring at least 10 in Donggala, authorities said. Some people took to Twitter saying they could not contact loved ones. One said: "My family in Palu is unreachable." The USGS put the magnitude of the second quake at a strong 7.5, after first saying it was 7.7. More than 600,000 people live in Donggala and Palu. Indonesia earthquake: Houses collapsed after the powerful tremors Buildings across Sulawesi were affected by the earthquake<doc-sep>A magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck north of Palau, Indonesia on September 28, 2018 at 6:03 pm local time (10:03 am UTC). At least one person is dead and extensive damage has been seen on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi following a series of earthquakes in the island, reports the Weather Channel. The most powerful earthquake struck just after 6 p.m. local time on Friday night, recording 7.5 on the Richter scale. The tremor’s center was 35 miles away from the town of Donggala, home to 300,000 people and triggered a tsunami warning from the Indonesian authorities. The tsunami went on to hit Donggala along with the neighboring town of Palau but little information about the wave has been gathered by the Indonesian geophysics agency yet. What information has been gathered has come from Indonesia’s equivalent of FEMA which reported that houses have been completely swept away by the tsunami and that many people are missing but the timing of the quake at nightfall has hindered rescuers efforts to find the missing. One resident was able to film the damage of the earthquake, simply saying in his tweet “The earthquake before Maghrib (a scheduled time of prayer for Muslims) in Donggala”. So far, only reporting out of Donggala and Palau has come out to the authorities which are expecting more information from nine other districts on the island. Sulawesi has a unique shape, often described as looking like a cat, this leads to significant numbers of remote communities on the island which will make getting information, and rescue efforts, hard. Indonesia was recently also hit by a significant earthquake last month which killed hundreds on the island of Lombok, further south in the archipelago than Sulawesi. This section of Indonesia can be susceptible to earthquakes, with a tremor in nearby Sumatra in 2004 triggering the disastrous Indian Ocean tsunami which killed over 300,000 people. That came after a much stronger, 9.1 magnitude quake, but the Indonesian authorities were aware of fears that could arise after such a significant series of quakes and released a statement after reporting that a tsunami had developed that it would not impact the Indian Ocean as a whole. The rescue efforts have only just begun, and with so many residents still missing the death toll could well rise above the one. TYT Newsroom with information from https://www.usgs.gov/ Comments comments<doc-sep>
A collapsed shopping mall in Palu, after a 7.5 magnitude strong earthquake hits Sulawesi (AFP) Indonesia was rocked by a powerful 7.5 magnitude earthquake Friday, with the national disaster agency saying that "many" buildings had collapsed in the aftermath of the huge tremor. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. "There are reports that many buildings collapsed in the earthquake," national disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said in a statement. "Residents panicked and scattered out of their homes." Pictures supplied by the agency showed a badly damaged shopping mall in the city of Palu where at least one floor had collapsed onto the storey below. Other pictures showed major damage to buildings, with rubble strewn about the road and large cracks running through pavement. Search and rescue teams have been dispatched to hard-hit areas, Nugroho said. The quake hit central Sulawesi island at a shallow depth of some 10 kilometres (six miles), the US Geological Survey said, just hours after a smaller jolt killed at least one person in the same part of the country. The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it. AFP phone calls to several regional hospitals went unanswered. The latest quake was a higher magnitude than those that killed hundreds on the island of Lombok earlier this year. Friday's tremor was centred 78 kilometres north of Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi province, but was felt in the far south of the island in its largest city Makassar and on the neighbouring island of Kalimantan, Indonesia's portion of Borneo island. The initial tremor struck as evening prayers were about to begin in the world's biggest Muslim majority country on the holiest day of the week when mosques would be especially busy. It was followed by a series of powerful aftershocks, including one measuring 5.7 magnitude. 'Earthquake, earthquake!' "I was about to start prayers but then I heard people shouting 'earthquake! earthquake!' so I stopped," Andi Temmaeli from Wajo, south of Palu, told AFP. Lisa Soba Palloan, a resident of Toraja, also south of Palu, said locals felt several quakes Friday. "The last one was quite big," she said. "Everyone was getting out their homes, shouting in fear." Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth. The Southeast Asian archipelago nation lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", where tectonic plates collide and many of the world's volcanic eruptions and earthquakes occur. This summer, a series of powerful quakes hit Lombok, killing over 550 people on the holiday island and neighbouring Sumbawa. Some 1,500 people were injured and about 400,000 residents were displaced after their homes were destroyed. Indonesia has been hit by a string of other deadly quakes including a devastating 9.1 magnitude tremor that struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004. That quake triggered a tsunami that killed 220,000 throughout the region, including 168,000 in Indonesia. The Boxing Day disaster was the world's third biggest quake since 1900, and lifted the ocean floor in some places by 15 metres. Indonesia's Aceh province was the hardest hit area, but the tsunami affected coastal areas as far away as Africa. Among the country's other big earthquakes, a 6.3-magnitude quake in 2006 rocked a densely populated region of Java near the city of Yogyakarta, killing around 6,000 people and injuring 38,000. More than 420,000 people were left homeless and some 157,000 houses were destroyed. A year earlier, in 2005, a quake measuring 8.7 magnitude struck off the coast of Sumatra, which is particularly prone to quakes, killing 900 people and injuring 6,000. It caused widespread destruction on the western island of Nias.