Sulawesi (Indonesia), Sep 28: A spokesman for Indonesia's geophysics agency says that one person has been killed after a powerful Sulawesi earthquake caused a tsunami, apparently after the agency lifted a tsunami warning.
Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting the provincial capital, Palu, with people screaming and running in fear.
[Indonesia earthquake: Watch the video of Tsunami crashing into island with huge wave]
It was the second quake to strike the area Friday.
Eastern Indonesia is characterized by complex tectonics in which motions of numerous small microplates are accommodating large-scale convergence between the Australia, Sunda, Pacific, and Philippine Sea plates.
[After a powerful earthquake, death toll rises to 16 in Japan]
At the location of the earthquake, the Sunda plate moves south with respect to Molucca Sea plate at a velocity of about 30 mm/year.
As per the USGS tectonic summary, earthquake was also preceded by a series of small-to-moderate sized earthquakes over the hours leading up to this event; the USGS located 4 other earthquakes of M 4.9 and larger in the epicentral region, beginning with a M 6.1 earthquake three hours earlier and just to the south of the M 7.5 event.
More details awaited.