7.7-magnitude earthquake strikes Indonesian coast; tsunami warning issued

A magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck off the coast of Flores Island in eastern Indonesia early on Saturday, according to the US Geological Survey. The US observatory located the epicenter off the northern coast of the island, about 68 kilometers northwest of Ende Regency, at a shallow depth of just 10 kilometers. The main shock was followed by two aftershocks of magnitude 5.6 and 5.9 in the same area. The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics warned that the earthquake could trigger a tsunami. Indonesia and its neighboring countries frequently experience earthquakes due to their location within the Pacific Ring of Fire, a zone of intense seismic activity stretching from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.