Two high magnitude and shallow earthquakes hit Indonesia off the island of Sumatra on Wednesday, according to the USGS geological service.
These two earthquakes, magnitude 6.8 and 6.9 and 10 km deep, occurred six minutes apart from 5:23 a.m. (local time) on Wednesday, the USGS said, according to which there is a “low probability of casualties and damage” given the characteristics of these tremors.
No tsunami warning has been issued.
The Indonesian archipelago is located on the Pacific “ring of fire”, an area of high seismic activity.
In 2018, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake followed by a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi left more than 4,300 dead and missing.
Another devastating 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra in 2004, triggering a tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region, including about 170,000 in Indonesia.