Magnitude 7.7 earthquake strikes off coast of Indonesia and tsunami warning issued

A powerful 7.7-magnitude quake has struck off the coast of Indonesia, the US Geological Survey said. No immediate casualties or damage were reported.

The quake hit Indonesia’s Flores region with a depth of 10km at 5:58am on Saturday Indonesia time. It’s epicentre was 68km (42 miles) north-northwest of the city of Ende in East Nusa Tenggara province.

The initial quake was followed by two aftershocks.

Indonesia’s meteorology, climatology and geophysics agency issued a tsunami warning and urged residents to stay away from beaches and riverbanks. The agency located the shallow undersea quake near Flores island. Residents along affected coastlines were advised to move to higher ground as officials are closely monitoring coastal tide gauges for any changes.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, is prone to earthquakes and volcanic activity because of its location on the “Ring of Fire”, an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Separately, Australia’s tsunami ⁠warning centre said the undersea earthquake ​will ​have “no tsunami ​threat to the Australian mainland, ​islands ‌or territories”.

*This is a developing story