A spokesman for Indonesia's geophysics agency says a powerful earthquake on the island of Sulawesi caused a tsunami, apparently after the agency lifted a tsunami warning. Hary Tirto Djatmiko confirmed to the AP that a tsunami occurred, adding that the agency was still collecting information and would release it after confirming its accuracy. Indonesian TV showed a smartphone video of a powerful wave hitting the provincial capital, Palu, with people screaming and running in fear.
The US Geological Survey said the strongest in a series of quakes had a magnitude of 7.5 and was centered at a depth of 6 miles, about 35 miles northeast of the central Sulawesi town of Donggala. An official with the local disaster agency, Akris, said "many houses have collapsed." Television footage showed people running into the streets. Woman and children wailed hysterically in a video distributed by the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, which also released a photo showing a heavily damaged department store.
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