Strong quake hits off Indonesian island, no casualty reported
The Indonesian Meteorology and Geophysics Agency reported the quake struck at 3:06 a.m. Jakarta time Wednesday (0806 GMT Tuesday) with epicenter at 210 km southwest Tual town of Maluku and with the depth at 128 km under sea bed.
"The shakes of the quake were not felt because it was located under deep sea," the agency official named only Miranda told Xinhua.
The agency said that the quake may trigger tsunami should its magnitude at least at 7 Ritcher scale.
The USGS reported that the quake was measured at 5.8 magnitude and with the depth 110 km under sea bed.
Ratna Sari, official of the National Disaster and Mitigation Agency confirmed that there were no building damaged or those injured after the quake.
Indonesia, an archipelago country homed by over 238 million people, sits on a vulnerable quake-hit zone, so called the "Pacific Ring of Fire", where two continental plates meet that frequently cause seismic and volcanic movements.
The country have conducted relief works after the tsunami in West Sumatra and, quake and floods in Papua last month that killed over 700 people and devastated massive infrastructure. The catastrophe internally displaced over 25,000 people.
Besides, the government also handling the impact of volcano eruption since Oct. 26 in Central Java that killed at least 259 people and forced hundreds thousands others fleing homes, Kazinform cites Xinhua. See www.xinhuanet.com