7.1 Magnitude Quake Hits In Indonesia, No Tsunami Warning

A magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck in Indonesia on Monday but no tsunami warning was issued for the region. This is the second earthquake to hit Indonesia in a short period of time.

The earthquake struck off shore about 146 miles northwest of Saumlaki and was measured at a depth of 96 miles, reports The Examiner.

The tremors took place where the Australia tectonic plate meets with the Sunda plate. The convergence is a strike-slip fault, meaning that the Australia plate moves in a north-northeast direction in respect to the Sunda plate. The velocity is about 76 millimeters per year.

The Australia-Pacific plate boundary where the 7.1 magnitude quake hit near Indonesia travels for more than 4,000 kilometers. It is part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an area that is unstable and prone to volcanoes and earthquakes as a result of active fault lines.

The Christian Science Monitor notes that any earthquakes near Indonesia and the Indian Ocean trigger fears over a massive tsunami, like the one that killed hundreds of thousands of people in December of 2004.

Another earthquake struck in the Pacific’s Ring of Fire in the past week. Japan, another country wary of tsunamis, was hit by an earthquake on Friday that had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3. It struck off of the coast of Miyagi prefecture around 5:18 pm local time. The area was subsequently shaken by several aftershocks.

There was no indication of damage reports or injuries from the 7.1 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia. There was also no recorded tsunami wave in the aftermath of the tremors.