Manado. A powerful 7.6-magnitude earthquake struck off Indonesia’s North Sulawesi province early Thursday, damaging buildings in Manado and triggering tsunami warnings across parts of the region, authorities said.

One person was killed in the city after being struck by debris from a collapsed sports facility, while emergency teams continued to search for possible additional victims.

The victim, identified as 69-year-old Deice Lahia, died after the Manado KONI sports hall collapsed in the Sario district. She was evacuated by rescue workers and local residents to Bhayangkara Hospital in Manado.

The quake, which struck at around 5:48 a.m. Jakarta time, sent residents fleeing their homes as strong tremors were felt across the city. Panic spread after the Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) issued an early tsunami warning for North Sulawesi and parts of North Maluku.

According to BMKG, the earthquake’s epicenter was located at sea about 129 kilometers southeast of Bitung, at a depth of between 33 and 62 kilometers. Officials described it as a shallow tectonic quake linked to subduction activity in the Molucca Sea.

“Based on the epicenter location and depth, this was a shallow earthquake caused by crustal deformation due to subduction activity in the Molucca Sea,” BMKG chief Teuku Faisal Fathani said in a virtual press briefing.

The agency later detected small tsunami waves measuring between 0.2 and 0.3 meters in Bitung and West Halmahera, recorded shortly after the quake.

Search and rescue teams comprising personnel from the military, police, and local disaster agency (BPBD) have been deployed across Manado to assess damage and locate potential victims.

The earthquake also prompted regional alerts. Malaysia and the Philippines issued tsunami advisories, while the United States Geological Survey (USGS) warned of possible hazardous waves within a 1,000-kilometer radius of the epicenter.

Authorities have urged residents to remain vigilant and monitor official updates as aftershocks remain possible and damage assessments continue.