A powerful earthquake shook parts of Sulawesi Island on 22 January but no casualties were reported. BMKG said that the magnitude 6.0 quake occured in Melonguane, the capital of Kep Talaud, about 39 kms southeast of Indian Ocean and centered at a depth of 12 kilometers. Daryono, head of Mitigation of Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG) said that there was no danger of a tsunami but warned of possible aftershocks.
Kep Talaud, a coastal border province of North Sulawesi and Philiphines water, is known as one of the 16 landing ports for Tuna in Indonesia. As a potential supply source of tuna, amounting 6.000 MT per year, Talaud is being prepared as the next industrial gen despite of their current 1/5 of its potentials to the national tuna contributions. Authorities assumed that the fear and alert of the quake might still potentially harmed the fishermen's catching activities in the upcoming weeks.