Steve Quayle News Alerts

March 2, 2005
Yahoo News

TOKYO - A powerful earthquake struck eastern Indonesia late Wednesday, meteorological agencies said, and was felt as far off as Australia. No damage or injuries were immediately reported.

The magnitude 7.2 quake, which did not trigger a tsunami, was centered about 200 miles southeast of Ambon in the Banda Sea, Japan's Meteorological Agency said. The U.S. Geological Survey put the earthquake's magnitude at 6.8.

Officials at Indonesia's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said no damage or injuries were reported, perhaps because of the quake's depth — 120 miles under the seabed — and distance from the mainland.

It was not immediately clear if residents in Ambon, the capital of Maluku province, felt the quake. But people in Australia's northern city of Darwin said they could feel their houses shaking.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said last month it would start issuing bulletins on earthquakes powerful enough to trigger tsunami — meaning those measuring magnitude 7 and above — even when they occur far from Japan.

The agency traditionally had only released data on earthquakes and tsunami having a domestic impact. But after killer waves triggered by a magnitude 9.0 quake killed thousands of people in countries lining the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, it decided to deliver warnings to alert Japanese travelers and overseas residents of possible threats in their areas.

The agency also said last month it and the United States would begin providing tsunami warnings to countries around the Indian Ocean as early as March as a temporary measure until the region establishes its own alert system.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050302/ap_on_re_as/indonesia_earthquake_3

March 2, 2005 10:42:10 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver

A major earthquake occurred at 10:42:10 (UTC) on Wednesday, March 2, 2005. The magnitude 7.1 event has been located in the BANDA SEA. (This event has been reviewed by a seismologist.)

Magnitude 7.1
Date-Time Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at 10:42:10 (UTC) = Coordinated Universal Time
Wednesday, March 2, 2005 at 7:42:10 PM = local time at epicenter
Location6.549°S, 129.878°E
Depth 191.3 km (118.9 miles) set by location program
Region BANDA SEA
Distances