Indonesia earthquake sparks tsunami warning after Sulawesi rocked by magnitude 6.8 tremor

A MASSIVE 6.8 magnitude earthquake has sparked fears of a tsunami in Indonesia today.

Locals in Sulawesi have been ordered to evacuate to higher ground after the country's geophysics agency says a tsunami is possible after the huge shaker struck east of the island.

The US Geological Survey said the quake which hit this morning 174 miles south of the island's province of Gorontalo at a depth of 10.5 miles.

Geophysics agency spokesman Taufan Maulana said: “It is clear that the quake has tsunami potential. Residents are advised to evacuate as soon possible."

The agency is monitoring for high waves as the quake had the potential to trigger a tsunami, a statement read, adding: “The first wave may not be the biggest.”

Local resident Gina Saerang, who lives in Manado and was several hundred kilometres from the epicentre, said the quake was "strong and long lasting."

Indonesia suffered its highest death toll - including than 4,000 deaths in Palu in Central Sulawesi - natural disasters in more than a decade last year, following two major tsunamis and several earthquakes.

Indonesia lies in the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire an area blighted by earthquakes and volcano eruptions.

What is the Ring of Fire?

The Ring of Fire is a long chain of volcanoes and earthquakes around the edge of the Pacific Ocean.

There are 452 volcanoes based in the 25,000-mile ring that stretches from North and South America to Japan and New Zealand.

Since 1850 about 90 per cent of the most powerful eruptions happened within this boundary.

Mount Agung in Bali is one of hundreds of active volcanoes along the Ring of Fire.

How did the Ring of Fire form?

More than 100,000 people have been told to flee the "danger zone" after the volcano erupted.

Authorities are enforcing a six-mile exclusion zone around Mount Agung which has been erupting on and off since November 2017, with thousands of flights affected at the peak of it's destruction.

Fears are now growing California's "Big One" could be on the way - a 9.0 magnitude earthquake that would tear through the West coast of the US and cause a tsunami.

Experts have claimed California is overdue a large earthquake and shaking around the Ring of Fire could be a warning.

When dense ocean plates crashed and slid under lighter continental plates. This is a process called subduction.

Tectonic plates are huge slabs of the Earth's crust and move constantly above the mantle - a layer of molten and solid rock.

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