A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the eastern Indonesian region of Papua on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but a monitor said there was no tsunami threat.
The epicentre of the quake, which struck at around 5:24 pm (0824 GMT), was around 193 kilometres northwest of the town of Abepura in Papua, USGS said.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said there was no tsunami threat.
There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
USGS earlier gave a magnitude of 6.5 before revising it downward.
The vast archipelago nation experiences frequent earthquakes due to its position on the Pacific 'Ring of Fire', an arc of intense seismic activity where tectonic plates collide that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.
A magnitude 6.2 quake that shook Sulawesi in January 2021 killed more than 100 people and left thousands homeless.
In 2018, a magnitude 7.5 quake and subsequent tsunami in Palu on Sulawesi killed more than 2,200 people.
And in 2004, a magnitude 9.1 quake struck Aceh province, causing a tsunami and killing more than 170,000 people in Indonesia.
Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, was particularly devastated, as waves of up to 20-30m swept through the city and destroyed more than 60 per cent of its buildings.
An estimated 230,000 people died altogether as the tsunami hit the coastlines of 11 countries, including Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand.
Two million people were displaced and made homeless.
This is a breaking news story. More to follow.
6.3 magnitude quake jolts Papua in Indonesia; ‘very strong shaking’ reported
Strong tremors were felt on Tuesday in the eastern Indonesian region of Papua after an earthquake hit the region at around 5:24 pm (0824 GMT). The United States Geological Survey said the magnitude of the earthquake was nearly 6.3 and the depth was around 10 km. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said that there was no threat of a tsunami in the region after the earthquake. The epicentre of the earthquake was about 193 kilometres northwest of the town of Abepura in Papua. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
As per reports, Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia; Vanimo and Sandaun in Papua New Guinea; Agats in South Papua, Indonesia; and Nabire in Central Papua, Indonesia, also experienced strong tremors when the quake hit.
The USGS official website said that the peak ground velocity during the earthquake was nearly 20 cm per second, which falls under the category of ‘very strong shaking’.
Last month, Papua New Guinea experienced similar tremors, when an earthquake of 5.8 magnitude struck the region. The earthquake was at a depth of 106 kms (66 miles), according to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ)
Earlier in April 2025, a 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Papua New Guinea’s New Ireland province on April 12.
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