Moderate earthquakes shake Indonesia, no damage

JAKARTA, Feb 1 (Reuters) Moderate earthquakes shook tremor-prone Indonesia today with the most recent in the eastern Moluccas Sea, but officials reported no casualties or damage.

A 5.9 magnitude quake struck off the southern coast of the country's main Java island early today. That was followed by one in the evening that measured 5.7 on the Richter scale.

''It was an undersea earthquake with no tsunami potential,'' said Sutiono, an official at Jakarta's meteorological and geophysics agency, referring to the latest quake.

He added the impact was small on nearby islands, including Ternate 124 kms from the epicentre. Another agency official told Reuters earlier there was no damage or casualties reported from the first quake.

Indonesia straddles Asia's so-called ''Ring of Fire'', where continental plates collide and earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are frequent.

REUTERS AKJ BST1737