Strong quake hits near Ambon in eastern Indonesia

JAKARTA, Jan 11 (Reuters) A strong undersea earthquake of a magnitude 6.2 struck eastern Indonesia, around 70 km southwest of the provincial capital of Ambon, an official at the country's Meteorological and Geophysical agency said today.

The official said by telephone the quake struck at 2131 hrs (2001 IST) and was at a depth of 57 km.

He said there were no reports of damage or casualties so far and the agency did not see a risk of a tsunami.

Ambon is the capital of Molluccas province.

The US Geological Survey said in a report on its Web site that the quake was a weaker 5.9 magnitude.

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