Videos Show Panic In Indonesia After Powerful 7.4 Earthquake Triggers Tsunami Warning, 1 Killed

Last Updated:April 02, 2026, 08:09 IST

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia, triggering a tsunami warning and damaging several buildings.

A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia in the early hours of Thursday, triggering panic in the streets. The earthquake also issued a tsunami warning, with waves reaching up to 75 centimetres (2.5 feet).

CCTV footage from several areas across Indonesia showed buildings shaking violently during the earthquake, prompting residents to flee to safety. Several areas were damaged, and cracks were visible on the roads in some parts of the country.

One person was killed when a building collapsed in the city of Manado in North Sulawesi province, a local search and rescue official told AFP. “The quake was felt strongly and around Manado… one person died and one person had a leg injury," said George Leo Mercy Randang.

The deceased was identified as a 70-year-old woman, a resident of North Sulawesi, who died after being crushed by building debris. The local media also broadcast images of damaged buildings in other parts of Indonesia.

Local authorities in some cities, such as Ternate and Tidore, were urged to prepare citizens for evacuation. The earthquake was strongly felt in Bitung, a coastal city in North Sulawesi, as well as nearby areas and Ternate in neighbouring North Maluku, Indonesia’s Disaster Management Agency said.

The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) initially said hazardous tsunami waves were possible within 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) of the epicentre along the coasts of Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia. Within half an hour of the quake, waves up to 75 cm were recorded in North Minahasa and 20 cm in Bitung, both in the north of Sulawesi island, according to Indonesia’s BMKG geological agency.

However, the PTWC later lifted the tsunami warning after two hours, saying the threat “has now passed." Japan’s meteorological agency has also issued an alert forecasting “slight sea level changes" along the country’s coast, but said it expects no tsunami damage, according to BBC.

There had been two aftershocks, with magnitudes of 5.5 and 5.2, since the first major earthquake, and the national geological agency said at the time that it expected more tremors.

Indonesia and neighbouring countries experience frequent earthquakes due to their location in 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.

Last November, a powerful 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Thursday, shaking areas near Aceh province, prompting brief panic among residents but no tsunami threat. A day earlier, it was reported that dozens of people were buried under landslides or swept away after torrential rains unleashed flash floods and triggered landslides in the island.

(with inputs from agencies)

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