Magnitude-3.2 Earthquake Jolts South Sorong

SORONG, West Papua, Jan 19 (Antara) - An earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale jolted South Sorong district in West Papua Province at 5.45 am East Indonesia Standard Time (WIT) on Friday. Local Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Chief Andri W Bidang remarked that the epicenter of the earthquake was located between the coordinate of 2.28 degrees Southern Latitude and 131,55 degrees Eastern Longitude, about 105 kilometers southwest of South Sorong. Judging from the depth of its hypo center, it was a kind of shallow earthquake due to plate collision. The earthquake vibration was felt by all residents of South Sorong district where residents residing in the high rise building felt the effects of the earthquake. Andri said the earthquake did not have a potential to trigger a tsunami, because the magnitude was not strong enough to generate changes in the seabed that can trigger a tsunami. So far there was immediate report of damage caused by the earthquake in the sea of South Sorong. Indonesia, an archipelago of about 250 million people, is prone to earthquakes and volcano eruptions because it sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire.