A very strong and massive earthquake hit the Indonesia early Monday, killing at least two people and destroying hundreds of houses and schools in the city of Gorontalo, about 135 kilometers (85 miles) southeast of the quake's epicenter along with a Tsunami warning which was soon later on lifted by the Indonesian authorities. The quake had a size of 7.5 and was at a depth of 21 km.
The quake struck about 1:02 a.m. Monday (12:02 p.m. ET Sunday), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The epicenter was nearly 1,900 kilometers east-northeast of Jakarta, the capital.One of the dead was a 56-year-old man who was buried under ruins in Gorontalo, in the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, Pakaya said. No details of the second death were instantly on hand.
Indonesia started a new hi-tech system this week aimed at identifying a probable tsunami and providing faster alerts in a region battered by repeated earthquakes, though experts say large parts of the country are still not covered and the system will not be fully operational until 2010.