Moderate quake rocks Indonesia, no casualties

Jakarta, May 12: An earthquake measuring 5.9 rocked the southern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra island today, but there were no reports of casualties or damage, the Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics said.

Residents in the capital, Jakarta, also felt the quake, whose epicentre lay in the Sunda Straits about 30 km south of Bandar Lampung city. The straits separate Sumatra and the main Java island, and Bandar Lampung city lies 175 km west of Jakarta.

''It's in the sea and there are no reports of damage or a tsunami,'' Fauzi, an official from the agency, told Reuters.

''The paintings on the wall moved and everyone shouted, 'earthquake', but afterwards we were calm. Nobody came out of the building,'' said a Jakarta resident who works on the 24th floor.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. Its 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the Pacific Ring of Fire.

A powerful undersea quake off the northern tip of Sumatra in December 2004 caused a devastating tsunami and caused widespread destruction.

REUTERS