WEB DESK
A powerful earthquake hit the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia on Friday. Local authorities issued an alert for possible tsunami, but later lifted it, saying there’s no threat of tsunami.
The US Geological Survey says an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 occurred shortly after 6 PM local time. Its focus was 10 kilometers deep.
About 3 hours earlier, a magnitude-6.1 earthquake had struck the island. The authorities say that earthquake damaged some houses, killing one person and injuring several other people.
After the latest quake, authorities are concerned about more damage.
The shallow 7.5 magnitude quake sparked terror among locals who fled into the streets and raced to higher ground fearing tsunami waves.
The disaster agency briefly issued a tsunami warning before lifting it.
But dramatic video footage filmed from the top floor of a parking ramp spiral in Palu, a city of 350,000 nearly 80 kilometres (50 miles) from the quake´s epicentre, showed a churning wall of whitewater mow down several buildings and inundate a large mosque.