Regional Police Chief of Maluku Inspector General Lotharia Latif urged all district and city police in Maluku to check and handle the impacts of the 7.5-magnitude (M) earthquake that rattled the province on Tuesday.

“In general, still safe. Nevertheless, we continue to coordinate with regions, and there have been no fatalities so far,” he noted at the Maluku Police Headquarters here on Tuesday.

Latif remarked that from the report he received, one victim had suffered from minor injuries in the Tanimbar Islands District while minor to severe damages were caused to several residents’ houses.

“I have instructed all chiefs of district and city police to alert their units to anticipate the disaster. Let us all pray that there are no deaths,” he affirmed.

In addition to the Tanimbar Islands District Police, he noted that all district and city police forces are conducting checks on the field along with the Indonesian Military (TNI) and other relevant institutions.

“I have also instructed all chiefs of district and city police to check and anticipate the impacts of the earthquake in their respective regions,” he stated.

He affirmed that the National Police (Polri) is always ready to face natural disasters. Police personnel will visit locations affected by the earthquake to serve the community.

He also advised the community to stay alert in facing natural disasters. People are urged to be proactive in following official information from the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) and the Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency (BPBD) of Maluku.

A 7.5-magnitude (M) earthquake struck Maluku Province at 2:47 a.m. Eastern Indonesia Standard Time (WIT) on Tuesday.

The BMKG issued a tsunami warning for the M7.5 earthquake, whose epicenter was located at sea at 136 kilometers (km) to the northwest of Western Southwest Maluku — now called Tanimbar Islands District — at a depth of 130 km.

Thereafter, at 5:43 a.m. WIT, the BMKG ended the tsunami early warning.

Source: Antara News