A tectonic earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale rocked North Sulawesi province at 9.15 local time on Tuesday morning, ANTARA quoted local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) spokesman Mujianto as saying. He said the epicenter of the tremor was located at 1.30 degrees northern latitude and 126.4 degrees eastern longitude at the depth of 30 kilometers, or 124 kilometers northwest of Ternate in North Maluku. The intensity of the quake was felt at the fourth and fifth levels of the Modified Mercalli Intensity (MMI) by the people in the cities of Bitung, Manado, and the districts of Sangihe and Talaud. But Mujianto said there was no immediate report on damages and casualties of the earthquake which prompted a number of workers at North Sulawesi governor's office to scramble out of the office building for fear of other possible major aftershocks. He added that earlier on Saturday an earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale also shook North Sulawesi Province at 9.55 am local time. The earthquake's epicenter was located at 0.97 degrees northern latitude and 126.60 degrees eastern longitude, at a depth of 65 km under the Maluku sea, and around 210 km southeast of Manado.
