5.8 magnitude quake strikes off eastern Indonesia

The shallow quake hit Indonesia on Wednesday at 1:43 pm local time in the Banda Sea about 70 kilometers (44 miles) southeast of Amahai on the island of Seram.

Shallow quakes tend to do more damage than deep ones. However, there were no immediate reports of major damage or casualties.

Indonesia experiences frequent quakes and volcanic eruptions due to its position on the ‘Ring of Firel’.

The ‘Ring of fire’ is an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

In 2004, a devastating 9.1 magnitude quake jolted the coast of Sumatra and triggered a tsunami that killed over 220,000 people throughout the region.

A quake of 7.5 magnitude in Palu on Sulawesi Island left more than 4,300 people dead in 2018.