Earthquake rattles East Timor, triggers brief tsunami alert

Earthquake rattles East Timor, triggers brief tsunami alert
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 30, 2008 | 5:30 AM ET
The Associated Press

A strong earthquake struck off the coast of East Timor Wednesday, prompting authorities to issue a brief tsunami warning.

The U.S. Geological Survey says the 6.2-magnitude tremor struck 262 kilometres northeast of the capital, Dili, in Indonesia's Banda Sea at a depth of 10 kilometres.

Residents in Dili did not feel any shaking and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysics Agency issued a tsunami alert, saying it had been powerful enough to generate giant waves, but the warning was later retracted.

In December 2004, a massive earthquake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries, including 160,000 people in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh.
© The Canadian Press, 2008
The Canadian Press