Quake shakes Indonesia's Java, at least 5 dead

JAKARTA, July 17 (Reuters) A strong undersea earthquake struck off Indonesia's West Java province today, triggering a tsunami that Indonesia's president said killed at least five people.

The search for victims was continuing, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told a news conference.

''An earthquake has happened and then was followed by a tsunami on the southern coast of Ciamis (regency),'' he said.

''It has been reported to me that five people have been declared dead and the search is still going on to find those who probably have been swept away by the tsunami waves.'' A woman who said she was a witness told Jakarta-based Radio Elshinta that waves had come several hundred metres inland at Pangandaran Beach around 270 kilometres southeast of Jakarta, and she had seen three bodies.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center had said the quake, which hit at 1349 hrs, was of 7.2 magnitude.

Indonesia's state meteorology and geophysics agency initially rated the quake at 5.5 magnitude, but later changed that to 6.8, and said there were two significant aftershocks.

Some occupants of high-rise Jakarta buildings felt the quake, which had an epicentre more than 40 kilometres under the Indian Ocean 180 km off Pangandaran beach, and fled their offices.

The other nearest populated area is Australia's Christmas Island where police reported a 60 cm (two-foot) surge. There were no reports of damage.

Earthquakes are frequent in Indonesia, the world's fourth most populous country. A massive earthquake in December 2004 triggered a tsunami that left 170,000 people killed or missing in Aceh province.

Tens of thousands more died elsewhere, the majority in Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

In May, an earthquake near the central Java city of Yogyakarta killed more than 5,700 people.

Indonesia's 17,000 islands sprawl along a belt of intense volcanic and seismic activity, part of what is called the ''Pacific Ring of Fire''.

The state oil company's 348,000 barrel-per-day (bpd) Cilacap refinery was not affected by the quake and tsunami, a Pertamina official said.

''The refinery is operating as usual. There were rising waves, but now the water has receded'', the official said.

REUTERS SHB RN1710