Authorities issued tsunami warnings across Southeast Asia on Thursday following a powerful 7.8 magnitude earthquake that rocked the Northern Molucca Sea near Indonesia’s coast, according to the United States Geological Survey.
The seismic event occurred at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometers (6.21 miles) beneath the ocean floor, which can amplify the potential for dangerous waves.
Officials with the U.S. Tsunami Warning System cautioned that dangerous tsunami waves could reach coastlines within 1,000 kilometers of where the earthquake originated, potentially affecting Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia.
The earthquake’s center was located approximately 120 kilometers away from Ternate, a city in Indonesia’s North Maluku province that is home to more than 205,000 residents, USGS data shows.
