Indonesia hit by another powerful 5.5-magnitude earthquake

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.5 was recorded off the coast of Indonesia, according to the US Geological Survey (USGS).

The earthquake struck at 6:51 a.m. UTC. Its epicenter was located 76.8 kilometers from the city of Ruteng, which has a population of more than 41,500. The earthquake occurred at a depth of 10 kilometers, Caliber.Az reports.

A deadly earthquake struck eastern Indonesia just a day earlier, with a magnitude 7.7 quake hitting off Flores Island and killing at least 51 people while injuring more than 100, according to Indonesian authorities.

The disaster was particularly severe because the quake occurred at shallow depth and triggered landslides, which blocked roads and cut off several communities from rescue teams. The earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks, while around 5,000 people were evacuated and more than 1,300 homes were damaged

The latest disaster is considered Indonesia’s deadliest earthquake since the magnitude 5.6 quake in West Java’s Cianjur in 2022, which killed 602 people and injured more than 7,800.

By Jeyhun Aghazada